Consequences of the Shift in Primitive from Utility to Desire

This paper examines the conceptual consequences of replacing utility maximization with desire as the primitive of economic explanation. Rather than modeling agents as maximizers of an abstract scalar, it treats them as problem-solvers who act to reduce perceived gaps between current and desired states. The shift is not proposed as a rejection of formal economic modeling, but as a reorientation at the level of first principles. From this reframing follow systematic reinterpretations of value, coordination, institutional design, measurement, and systemic risk. Value becomes relational rather than intrinsic; prices function as coordination signals rather than measures of ultimate worth; GDP is recast as a derivative proxy for problem-solving capacity; and institutions are understood as topology-shaping structures that alter perceived difficulty and discounting. The framework further offers an account of collective fragility in which catastrophic outcomes emerge not from irrationality but from coherent directional movement under heavy-tailed world dynamics. This paper attempts to trace such natural consequences from a shift in the primitive of economics from utility to desire.