My current thesis, from a position of absolute agnostic ignorance, is economics is what filled the void in society vacated by religion after the enlightenment.
They’re functionally indistinguishable, with mythology replaced by mathematics, and God replaced with GDP. Similarly, they’re both arbitrary rules; conjured, imposed, and protected from scrutiny by the ruling class.
That’s not to say it’s not useful, but I find it baffling that an imaginary concept is unquestionably granted veto over tangible and visceral phenomena.