Infrastructure and Social Welfare in Metropolitan America

Public infrastructure is an important part of a wellfunctioningurban economy. Such infrastructure—definedhere as publicly owned and maintained physical capital—hashistorically played a central role in allowing cities to grow bymitigating or reducing problems such as congested roadways,potholes, water-main breaks, and overcrowded schools. Yetwhile the benefit of some public works can hardly be disputed,a key policy issue is whether additions to our stock of publicinfrastructure provide overall benefits that exceed their costs.1That is to say, is the amount of infrastructure we havesufficient, or would we benefit from an increase? Anotherimportant question is, do our institutional structures promoteefficient infrastructure investment decisions?[...]