FWIW, there's a principle in economics that's called something like the "efficiency of scarcity" or something like that. Basically, it says that in any economic system the scarcest resources will be used most efficiently, and the most plentiful resources will be used least efficiently.
I had someone explain it to me this way:
Which is the most productive grain farm: one in Western Europe, one in North America, or one in Africa?
The answer is that all three of them are, because it depends on how you measure productivity. The European farm is most productive in terms of yield per acre, because open land for farming is more scarce there than in the other two places. The North American farm is the most productive in terms of yield per unit of labor, since we don't have millions of people aspiring to pick grain by hand over here. And the African farm is the most productive in terms of yield per unit of energy, since they have plenty of low-skilled labor and plenty of land, but no cheap energy.
D.C. must have quadrillions of dollars!