Abstract :
When my senator manages to win a big defense contract for my state, that contract is denied some other state. This is fine if the quality of the product and the cost of production are better in New York — or even the same as in that other state — but it is bad if New York produces a poor or more costly product. Although a single such instance is apt to do little harm to the enormous U.S. defense program or the national budget, the cumulative effect of such inefficiency can be quite damaging.