Thorstein Veblen wrote that vested interests are those seeking "something for nothing." In this chapter, you learned how technology shapes the economy's production possibilities over time so that a country becomes increasingly good at producing a subset of goods.

a. In what ways have vested interests used their influence to bias the U.S. economy toward the production of military goods at the expense of consumer goods?

b. What are the short-term and long-term consequences of that bias for human welfare, in the United States and abroad? (Institutionalist)