The big unresolved question of development from the 20th century and beyond; can engineering eat economics?

Can the distribution of resources, economic prioritization, be made into an engineering problem?

Economics currently mixes negotiation, a political concern, with with resource calculation, an engineering concern. Even in harder engineering problems, organization impinges; see Conway's law.

Can we do better here?

I aint even a socialist. The market works great. I'm just curious, because I see we have not yet applied an engineering consciousness to what exactly it works great FOR.

The economy is a machine. It is also a political order. These views need to be reconciled and fully applied.

The key question to be governed is the interaction of resource trade-offs with motivation, organizational communication, and political power.