But it is more efficient at doing many things. But it is much more efficient at providing for a variety of needs timber, habitat, genetic diversity. A plantation program is profitable because it harnesses a biological system that grows fiber. A school system is less efficient at crime prevention than a jail, but it is more efficient at growing well-rounded citizens with a variety of positive attributes. The more money spent, the bigger their impact.
Systems exert influence because of the intelligence of their design.
The better their design, the less money needs to be spent. When systems are optimized, their programs are individually suboptimized. When programs are optimized, the systems of which they are a part are suboptimized. From a programmatic perspective, reducing crime by improving schools is considered inefficient far less direct and more expensive than punishing criminals. But from a systemic perspective, reducing crime by improving education is most efficient, because it happens automatically as a consequence of a system that accomplishes many other things as well.