Or Maybe Patri Says It Better

Patri sighs:

All the time his readers spend reading the post and following his request is a waste, time spent on allocating wealth rather than creating it. The same goes for all the other charities fighting for the prize.

While one contest is, in general, not important, in general this is not a small issue. Whether social institutions are designed to promote positive or negative-sum interactions has an enormous effect on the growth of societal wealth. And because most people aren't good at thinking like economists, they often inadvertently create patterns that waste resources.

That's why we need that free market price; it's what tells you whether or not what you want to do will waste resources.