This is a nice article on contemporary economics. Underlying themes include conflict of interest, sense of belonging, and quite simply greed. When considered in this way, the analysis and findings can easily apply to politics, basically any human activity that strives to tap into the economic of scale. These are inherent issues in all walks of life. A chosen quote:
By fetishising mathematical models, economists turned economics into a highly paid pseudoscience
Source: How economists rode maths to become our era’s astrologers | Aeon Essays