The impact of science and economics. I get the feeling economics relies on treating people like objects and like they are dispensable and interchangeable and that we need to have children to create a steady flow of workers. — Andrew4Handel
Economists treat most people as rational agents, not as objects. I believe that most people are treated fairly as workers, even here in the US and moreso in progressive states like New York or California with higher minimum wages. Whether workers are dispensable is arguable. Again, where I live there are quite a few laws prohibiting discrimination and biases from causing an employer from firing some worker. The rationale is simple, you perform your duties and you get payed for doing it, as long as the company is producing something profitable.
I am not sure that people and their psychology should be manipulated like chess pieces. — Andrew4Handel
There is some truth to this in the marketplace of goods and advertising. The amount of money from advertising is collosal and sustains companies that compete with other companies for the same products. For example, Google makes makes most of their money from advertising still. Yet, companies like Toyota don't make their money by appealing to customers based on presenting their product as more psychologically appealing than a Ford car.