I think 'this paradox enables us to pinpoint the problem I would like to say something about, which is precisely this: since the eighteenth century, has homo ceconom£cus involved setting up an essentially <t,ncl unconditionally irreducible element against any possible government? Does the definition ofhomo ceconom£eus involve marking outthe zone that "- -is definitively inaccessible to any government action? … Obviously,the wayin which I haveformu,- lated this question gives the answer straightaway, but this is what I would like to talk about, that is to say, homo ceconomt"cus as the partner, the vis-a.-vis, and the basic element of the new governmental reason formulated in: the eighteenth century.

Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, loc. 1412