Even if government authorities were not subject to special-interest influence, they would have less motivation to conserve wisely than speculators do. If bureaucrats make wasteful decisions, their salaries aren’t reduced...In sharp contrast, speculators make money only if they conserve wisely...[i]f speculators don’t conserve enough they pass up profitable opportunities to buy low and sell high, and if they conserve too much they lose money by buying high and selling low.
LEE, DWIGHT R., Conservation and Speculation, The Freeman, August 1999, Vol. 49, No. 8