Contemporary economic systems exhibit persistent instability that cannot be adequately explained by utility optimization, price efficiency, or equilibrium convergence. Markets frequently remain active while trust erodes, institutions stagnate, and value circulation becomes nominal rather than meaningful. This paper introduces ECOIN (Emergent Co-Organized Interpretive Networks) as a phase- dynamic framework for post-utility economies. Rather than modeling markets as equilibrium- seeking mechanisms, ECOIN treats economic systems as collections of phase-coupled agents whose stability depends on resonance, environmental pressure, and bounded synchronization. We formalize value as a circulatory cognitive measure distinct from price, and define environ- mental pressure as a composite function of resonance collapse, autonomy loss, and institutional lock-in. Within this framework, speculative bubbles, crashes, stagnation, and value erosion emerge naturally as threshold-crossing phenomena in phase synchrony and pressure dynamics. The paper further positions AI systems as externalized executive functions, capable of monitoring phase coherence and pressure accumulation without replacing human agency. ECOIN provides a unifying mathematical and conceptual foundation for analyzing markets, institutions, and AI-mediated governance at individual, group, and civilizational scales.
Hinano Kimura (2026) studied this question.