When it is your own money, you watch it closely, compare prices, and skip waste. But when spending someone else’s money, the natural incentive to be careful fades. It is easier to be generous or careless when the cost lands on another person’s plate.

The point is simple: people protect what they personally earn. That is why letting individuals make choices with their own resources usually leads to smarter, leaner, better results than decisions made far away with other people’s cash.