[nationcrafting]

I think they're fascinating from a Hayekian point of view, namely that small centralised groups of directors have only a fraction of the information necessary to direct large groups, compared to dispersed but dynamic information flows you get from market economies via the price signalling system. Which explains the vast misallocation of resources and overall malinvestment.

Funnily enough, the person to first advocate as little interventionism as possible for government was Chinese philosopher Laozi, who compared governing a nation to frying small fish for lunch: too much stirring and lunch is ruined.