It's amazing how different economics looks when you assume the goal is to have an EFFECTIVE system rather than an EFFICIENT system.

An efficient system uses resources maximally, thus resources are never left lying around, but needs must be waiting for resources to become available.

An effective system resolves needs maximally, doing its best to ensure no needs are left unfulfilled. This requires that resources must be kept idle for unexpected needs.

In practice, effective systems are often more long-term efficient because emergency needs are often particularly expensive.