Development and integration of regional markets under digital and investment transformation of the economy

Research on digital trade, finance, investment, and regional integration remains fragmented, and cross-regional comparisons often rely on broad labels that obscure implementation differences and distributional risks. This conceptual study develops a testable five-pillar framework for regional market integration under digital and investment transformation. A structured narrative review was conducted using 57 full-text candidate documents identified through academic metadata searches and official repositories; 43 sources were retained after relevance and quality appraisal. Evidence was coded for mechanisms, complementarities, moderators, feedback effects, social outcomes, and risks. The European Union, ASEAN, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the African Continental Free Trade Area were then examined as most-different institutional cases using a common four-level implementation scale. The synthesis indicates that digital infrastructure is an enabling rather than sufficient condition. Human capital and institutional interoperability moderate its effects, while financial modernization and productive investment mediate the conversion of connectivity into cross-border exchange. Socially sustainable outcomes additionally depend on affordability, decent-work conditions, data rights, consumer protection, and territorial inclusion. The contribution is a framework that distinguishes enabling conditions, mechanisms, outcomes, risks, and feedback loops; states seven propositions; and specifies an empirical validation algorithm without presenting conceptual relationships as estimated effects. For policy, the framework supports sequenced diagnostics, interoperability pilots, safeguard design, and indicator-based scaling rather than isolated technology spending.