> Perhaps it's time to go back to the drawing board, and figure out what's wrong with these purely mechanistic models of society and the market

I've always had the impression that it's more a matter of timescales. Places do what's best for them in the next year, not the next 50yrs. If companies thought further ahead and building long term plans and potential would be a reason to spend capital, then I think we'd see a very different market, in many markets.