&gt;No, there&#x27;s no evidence that these activities produce economic value of a magnitude that justifies their compensation.<p>The evidence of economic value is the fact that these activities are so lucrative. If they weren&#x27;t producing a lot of value somehow, be it directly or indirectly, they wouldn&#x27;t receive such high compensation in the market. Economic value is essentially a measure of what people are willing to pay for things (revealed preference), under the assumption that people paying for something, absent any cooercion or market distortion, means they value it.