New Demand Economics
Abstract
We develop a theory of demand economics for an era of material abundance. The binding constraint on growth has shifted from insufficient aggregate demand to inadequate demand-tier upgrading. Our result is that, the new engine of growth lies in upgrading the demand hierarchy: higher-tier demands generate larger value-creation multipliers. The key mechanism is education-driven utility management. Education transforms the social utility function, raises the utility of higher-tier goods, and directs resources toward higher-value domains; this warrants a policy reorientation away from short-run aggregate stimulus toward education-centered, long-horizon investments in human capital. Methodologically, we build an estimable general-equilibrium framework.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.17121,
title = {New Demand Economics},
author = {Fenghua Wen and Xieyu Yin and Chufu Wen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.17121},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
33 pages, 3 figures