Economists consider governments to be "wasteful":

A) whenever they over- or underallocate resources to a project.
B) only when they overallocate resources to a project.
C) only when they underallocate resources to a project.
D) whenever they attempt to correct a market failure.

Market Failure

A situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not efficient, often leading to a net social welfare loss.

Over- Or Underallocate

Refers to the inefficient distribution of resources, either by providing too much (overallocation) or too little (underallocation) relative to the optimal level of allocation.