[montague27]

I’d say the way you ask the question is much more important than the answers themselves, as it reveals your own - likely unconscious - metaphysical and ethical assumptions. Mathematically, the optimizations you mentioned are probably well-researched, so further study in the humanities would likely be more fruitful than taking an economics-based approach.

Personally, I’d recommend reading Nietzsche and Marx, or thinkers who came after them.