Zhou, Zehao & Xie, Danxia: The Economics of Non-Formalization: Communicative Rationality, Consciousness, and Consensus Capital

Standard economic theory, built exclusively on instrumental rationality (means-end calculation for material efficiency), cannot explain the explosive growth of the digital social economy nor resolve the persistent Solow paradox: massivecomputing & AI investments have failed to deliver corresponding productivity gains; to address this, we develop a new ontological foundation for economics based on phenomenal consciousness (qualia)—ultimate source of value—grounded in mathematical logic & thermody