They thus siphon off cash that could be more productively used elsewhere.
Small coffee farmers alone could productively use over $1 billion in credit, if it was available on reasonable terms.
Industries receiving the boost would also absorb capital and labour that might be more productively used elsewhere.
The textile industry has been relatively unique in industrial history in its ability to productively use unskilled labour at almost any scale.
Investment yielded a very high rate of return in these countries, so additional foreign resources could be attracted and productively used.
The country's finance minister, Guido Mantega, recently noted that there had been a marked increase in foreign investment in recent months and that the economy was exceptionally well placed to both attract and productively use a new influx.
"We're looking at this major piece of time that could and should be more productively used," said Kenneth Medlin, vice president and general manager of Boeing Commercial Information Systems, a unit of the Boeing Space and Communications Group.
But for many, such vicarious involvement "is frustrating and depressing," said Dr. Murray, who recommends that her young patients volunteer at an animal shelter or find another means to productively use their after-school time and avoid the playing field.
For public-sector enterprises, political pressures often resulted in the employment of many more persons than could be productively used and in other practices conducive to extremely high-cost and inefficient operations.
