The Evolutionary Logic of Economic Morphology in the Digital Era: A Behavioral Framework for Financial Technology Systems

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the digital economy has exposed significant limitations in traditional economic frameworks, which struggle to explain phenomena such as algorithmic decisionmaking, data-driven value creation, and platform-based concentration. Existing approachesranging from production function extensions to platform models-remain fragmented and lack a unified micro-foundation. This paper proposes a behavior-centered framework to characterize economic forms and introduces the concept of economic morphology defined along four dimensions: agent structure, factor composition, behavioral pathways, and spatial distribution. Building on this framework, we define the Information Process Ratio (IPR) as a measurable indicator capturing the proportion of information-processing activities within economic behavior. Using IPR as a discriminant variable, we identify four major economic forms in human historyagricultural (IPR 10-20%), industrial (30-40%), service (50-60%), and digital (75-90%+). We show that the digital economy represents a distinct morphology, not a continuation of the industrial paradigm. Contemporary financial technology (FinTech) systems-high-frequency trading (HFT), decentralized finance (DeFi), and automated market makers (AMMs)represent extreme high-IPR regimes (95-99%), making them natural laboratories for testing the framework's predictions. We operationalize IPR using transaction-level proxies such as order-to-trade ratios (OTR), cancellation rates, and algorithmic trading share, enabling empirical application in financial markets. The framework generates testable implications linking IPR to transaction intensity, market concentration, returns to scale, algorithmic mediation, and high-frequency volatility. We further introduce the concept of IPR arbitrage, whereby economic activity flows toward higher-IPR systems, and propose a Financial Tension Index (FTI) to capture systemic strain in high-IPR environments. By shifting the analytical focus from agents to behaviors, this paper provides a unifying perspective for understanding the structural transformation of the digital economy and offers concrete implications for financial technology regulation, algorithmic market design, and systemic-risk monitoring.