Maximize the benefits, but what about the costs?
Popular Mechanics lists their top 10 pieces of infrastructure that "we must fix now:
- Circle Interchange, Chicago
- Brooklyn Bridge, New York
- Canal Lock, New Orleans
- Water System, Atlanta
- Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle
- Lake Okeechobee, Florida
- Dover Bridge, Bonner County, Idaho
- Wolf Creek Dam, Kentucky
- Sacramento River Levees, California
- O'Hare International Airport, Chicago
The benefits seem high but I'm not sure about the costs. I think it would be cool if some economics blog would list the top 10 pieces of infrastructure ranked in terms of net benefits.
One of the Common Tragedies crew linked to a blog that linked to a web site that linked to a ... well, at the end of the trail of blog crumbs is a CBO analysis from earlier this year that discussed this question, not in terms of individual projects but in terms of overall scope:
http://commontragedies.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/smart-stimulus/
Posted by: John Fleck | December 10, 2008 at 11:25 AM
We don't pay attention to the common tragedies crew anymore. They suggested we meet up while in DC then left us standing in the cold outside a closed bar.
Posted by: Tim Haab | December 10, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Hey -- we'll have PLENTY of money from the carbon tax, so who cares about NET anything?!? :)
http://aguanomics.com/2008/12/poll-results-carbon-revenue.html
Posted by: David Zetland | December 10, 2008 at 12:23 PM
One of the benefits of properly fixing the Canal Locks in New Orleans would be more goodwill towards closing the MRGO.
The MRGO has been a big "if", as in, we (transport) need the MRGO "if" the Canal Locks fail. Since Katrina it has further morphed from "if" to "when"...
Posted by: Amanda | December 10, 2008 at 01:00 PM
As an ex-Sacramentan, I can say the reason that Sacramento is so high on the list is that someone let tens of thousands of homes be built behind subsidized levees. And recently in N Natomas, much developer pressure successfully allowed even more homes to be built in a basin. Not a typo.
Best,
D
Posted by: Dano | December 10, 2008 at 01:15 PM
It's interesting that the national electrical grid didn't make the list. As far as I know, nothing has fundamentally changed in that system since 2003, when a minor problem snowballed into a regional disaster that blacked out the entire Northeast for two days.
Posted by: Alan Dove | December 10, 2008 at 04:23 PM
I'm surprised that the smart grid idea is playing up as well as it is in the blogosphere ... but I'm still skeptical that it will make the jump to the real world.
Posted by: odograph | December 10, 2008 at 05:40 PM