DIGITAL AGENTS AS FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENTS OF ECONOMIC ACTORS: THE DECOUPLING OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the theoretical interpretation of digital agents as functional equivalents of economic actors and to demonstrate that their expanding role in production and market processes creates the preconditions for a gradual decoupling of demographic dynamics from economic growth, thereby transforming the foundations of production, labour markets, institutional arrangements and the international distribution of economic power. The article proposes a theoretical interpretation of AI-based digital agents as functional equivalents of economic actors, creating preconditions for decoupling the centuries-old link between demographic dynamics and economic growth. The concept of shadow demographics is substantiated as an analytical category describing a growing algorithmic population that expands in parallel with the stagnation or decline of the human population, while the prospect of its transformation into algorithmic demographics through the institutionalisation of digital agent registration is outlined. The transformation of the ontological status of technology is analysed - from a productivity-enhancing tool to an autonomous participant in economic processes, forming a hybrid factor of production that combines characteristics of both capital and labour. An approach to the quantitative identification of algorithmic agents through the category of cognitive full-time equivalent (cFTE) is proposed, enabling the comparison of algorithmic and human productivity within a unified analytical framework, alongside the category of agent energy profile (AEP) as a measure of annual energy consumption per unit of cFTE. The fundamental asymmetry between economic and social reproduction is examined, arising from the capacity of digital agents to compensate for the productive functions of the population while being unable to substitute its functions of social reproduction. It is demonstrated that the institutional architecture of modern societies - from pension systems to taxation models - is built upon assumptions systematically undermined by the agentic economy, necessitating a revision of fiscal and social models, particularly through the introduction of discrete taxation of algorithmic employment. The geoeconomic dimension of algorithmic transformation is analysed, whereby the capacity to create, maintain, and control digital agents becomes a new axis of international inequality, potentially devaluing the demographic dividend of developing countries and creating preconditions for revising the logic of comparative advantages. Particular attention is given to algorithmic collusion as a new form of market failure.

Conflict of Interest: Natalia Reznikova is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Actual Problems of International Relations". To ensure a transparent and objective process, this manuscript was handled by other members of the Editorial Board and underwent independent peer review. The author was not involved in any editorial decisions regarding the acceptance of this paper.

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Received: 12.02.26 / Revised: 24.02.26 / Accepted: 18.03.26 / Published:30.03.26