This article explores the correlation between Nikolai Dmitrievich Kondratiev's long waves of economic cycles and the evolution of aesthetic paradigms in the 20th and 21st centuries. Kondratiev's theory posits long economic cycles lasting 40-60 years, divided into upswing (phase A) and downswing (phase B) periods, driven by technological innovations, capital accumulation and structural changes in the global economy. These cycles are integrated with Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory, which views the capitalist world-economy as a single system with core, semi-periphery and periphery zones, undergoing periodic crises and hegemonic shifts. Giovanni Andreotti Arrighi extended this by introducing systemic cycles of accumulation, where phase A involves material expansion and phase B financialization, leading to hegemonic transitions, such as from the United States to China. The study demonstrates how these economic phases align with shifts in aesthetic regimes: modernism during early 20th-century upswings, postmodernism in post-WWII downswings, and emerging metamodernism, digimodernism, and post-digital aesthetics in the current transition. Modernism, characterized by rationalism, progress, and grand narratives, flourished in phase A of the third Kondratiev wave (1896-1947), aligning with industrial growth and US ascent. Postmodernism, with its irony, fragmentation, and skepticism of metanarratives, emerged in phase B of the fourth wave (1947-2008), coinciding with financialization and US hegemonic crisis. Metamodernism, as proposed by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, oscillates between modern sincerity and postmodern irony, reflecting the instability of the fifth wave's phase A (2008-onward). Digimodernism, theorized by Alan Kirby, emphasizes digital interactivity and user-generated content, marking the shift to digital economies. Post-digital aesthetics, exploring hybrid analog-digital forms, represents responses to technological saturation in phase B anticipations. Overlaying this on the US-China hegemonic transition, the article argues that China's rise, characterized by state-led innovation and cultural revival (e.g., guochao aesthetics), signals a new aesthetic paradigm blending traditional and digital elements, challenging Western dominance. Calculations from the switching reproduction mode (SMR) model demonstrate that countercyclical policies dampen wave effects on GDP, but aesthetic shifts persist as cultural adaptations. This interdisciplinary approach highlights the interdependence of economic structures and aesthetic expressions, offering insights into future cultural trends amid global power shifts. 

Kondratiev waves; Nikolai Dmitrievich Kondratiev; Immanuel Wallerstein; Giovanni Arrighi; long economic cycles; aesthetic paradigms; modernism; postmodernism; metamodernism; digimodernism; post-digital aesthetics; hegemonic transition; US-China shift

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