"Most modern economic theory describes a world ... through the government's eyes."

 

"Most modern economic theory describes a world presided over by a government (not, significantly, by governments), and see this world through the government's eyes. The government is supposed to have the responsibility, the will, and the power to restructure society in whatever way maximises [wellbeing]; like the U.S. Cavalry in a good Western, the government stands ready to rush to the rescue whenever the market 'fails,' and the economist's job is to advise it on when and how to do so. Private individuals, in contrast, are credited with little or to ability to solve collective problems among themselves. This makes for a distorted view of some important economic and political issues."

~ Robert Sugden, from his 1986 book The Economics of Rights, Co-operation, and Welfare