Ah, I see. My impression of the economics profession as a whole is that there is a large group for which you're description fits and another large group for which it doesn't, but I don't have any communicable evidence for this position. I've personally worked with several economists in the latter category, but they would probably put most of the profession in the former.
I would like to learn more about economics but I don't know where to start. Can lesswrong suggest specific areas of economics that are particularly useful for understanding and optimising the world? Specific suggestions such as reading lists and resources would also be much appreciated.