Economists have effectively become a priestly class, dressing up the ruling ideology in "science-y" robes so as to communicate authority. All social sciences are at risk of doing so, but they fall right into this hole the instant that they don't perceive the world as it exists.

A trained economist either sells out to the Overlords or he gets a job as a barkeep. Or he ends up as some crank in a half-forgotten nonprofit somewhere. There's no middle ground.

Human intelligence is a remarkable adaptation, but "tendency towards delusion" might be the decidedly maladaptive trait that comes with it.