The economy is a game whose outcome no one knows

Evidence

In actual fact,thestatemutb._blindto_theeconomic processes. It must not be expected to know everything concerning the economy, or every phenomenon concerning the economy. In short, both for the state and for individuals, the economy must be a game: a set of regulated activities-you can see that we have come back to what we were saying at the Start-but iri which the rules are not <1ecisions which someone takes for others. It is a set ofrules which determine the way in which each must playa game whose outcome is not known by anyone. The economy is a game and the legal institution which frames the economy should be thought of as the rules of the game. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 931

Categorization

• DEFINE: Central metaphor of the game: the state must be blind to economic processes; only rules of play exist, not outcomes known in advance.
• CANDY: The crisp formulation ‘the economy is a game whose outcome is not known by anyone’ is a tweetable one-liner.
• XREF: connects to: Bailouts persisted because nobody could admit the economy was ungovernable — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 545; Economic determination acts by setting limits rather than predicting specific outcomes; AI unemployment is unpredictable because capitalism lacks any collective economic planning. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 248 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Economic rationality is founded on the unknowability of the whole economic process #corroborates (0.98) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1453
• Economic determination acts by setting limits rather than predicting specific outcomes #corroborates (0.95)
• Economic base sets limits but never fully determines historical outcomes #corroborates (0.95)
• Economic structures set limits but never fully determine political outcomes #corroborates (0.95) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 100
• Hayek grounded free-market economics in a theory of human ignorance #expands (0.90) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 278
• Hayek modeled economic order on rules operating without being known #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 172
• Political economy founded itself on the impossibility of an economic sovereign #corroborates (0.82) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1456
• Mainstream economic models cannot explain when bubbles start or stop #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 519
• AI unemployment is unpredictable because capitalism lacks any collective economic planning. #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 248
• The unknowability of the world economy drove neoliberal federalist reform #qualifies (0.72) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 77