Please explain to me how this makes sense to you.

A few minutes ago I received the following email from a coworker. It was addressed to both my boss and I:

Do we have any stats/research on prestige makeup users? I don’t need anything formal – I just want to include an overview paragraph in my proposal.

A few seconds later, my boss sends me this email:

Can you submit a request. It falls under makeup: prestige. Thanks.

I never can understand why bosses do this. To submit this request would take a total of one minute. It literally would take you longer to email someone and tell them to do it than it would to actually complete it yourself. Is this a power thing? Does delgating make them feel more boss-like?