It's less of an analogy than an offhand metaphor. But I don't think it's ever been established that either prices or allocation of resources can be theorized. And in the posts on this thread (even of those I tend to agree with) I don't think anyone has produced an acceptable definition of power. Power doesn't explain anything, it merely gives a (provisional) name to the historically generated relationships that need to be explained. It's just another name for Smith's Invisible Hand, which was another name for the god of the deists. In other words, we are mostly getting theology rather than historical analysis here.
Carrol ^^^^^^^ State power is backed up by military and police forces which are quite earthly ( See Engels on the history of force). The allocation of resources can be theorized based on the idea of state power enforcing the principles of private property. Charles
