Perhaps I should have tried to establish what was meant by "economic activity" before posing my critique. There are many definitions, but I took it to mean the

Perhaps I should have tried to establish what was meant by "economic activity" before posing my critique. There are many definitions, but I took it to mean the production of wealth. Governments and other coercive institutions do not typically produce wealth. They help create the conditions under which individuals can take risks and occasionally profit. Coercive institutions can take money (or labor) from one person and give that money (or the product) to another in exchange for something (e.g. taxes for roads and a peaceful, secure society and harvested crops for money in the case of slavery), and some would consider that economic activity, but I don't think OP was lumping that in, nor was I.