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The Political Economy of Transportation Investment

Author

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  • Ponzetto, Giacomo
  • Glaeser, Edward
Abstract
Will politics lead to over-building or under-building of transportation projects? In this paper, we develop a model of infrastructure policy in which politicians overdo things that have hidden costs and underperform tasks whose costs voters readily perceive. Consequently, national funding of transportation leads to overspending, since voters more readily perceive the upside of new projects than the future taxes that will be paid for distant highways. Yet when local voters are well-informed, the highly salient nuisances of local construction, including land taking and noise, lead to under-building. This framework explains the decline of urban mega-projects in the US (Altshuler and Luberoff 2003) as the result of increasingly educated and organized urban voters. Our framework also predicts more per capita transportation spending in low-density and less educated areas, which seems to be empirically correct.

Suggested Citation

  • Ponzetto, Giacomo & Glaeser, Edward, 2017. "The Political Economy of Transportation Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 12207, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12207
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    Cited by:

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    2. Guo, Shen & Shi, Yingying, 2018. "Infrastructure investment in China: A model of local government choice under land financing," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 24-35.
    3. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    4. Xuto, Praj & Anderson, Richard J. & Graham, Daniel J. & Hörcher, Daniel, 2023. "Sustainable urban rail funding: Insights from a century-long global dataset," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 100-115.
    5. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    6. Florian Mayneris, 2017. "Effets des infrastructures de transport sur le niveau et la localisation des activités économiques," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017023, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    7. Pablo Fajgelbaum & Cecile Gaubert & Nicole Gorton & Eduardo Morales Morales & Edouard Schaal, 2023. "Political preferences and the spatial distribution of infrastructure:evidence from California’s high-speed rail," Economics Working Papers 1866, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    8. Glaeser, Edward L., 2022. "What can developing cities today learn from the urban past?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Emine Coruh & Faruk Urak & Abdulbaki Bilgic & Steven T. Yen, 2022. "The role of household demographic factors in shaping transportation spending in Turkey," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 3485-3517, March.
    10. Mario F. Carillo, 2022. "Fascistville: Mussolini’s new towns and the persistence of neo-fascism," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 527-567, December.
    11. Nicholas Sheard, 2021. "The network of US airports and its effects on employment," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 623-648, June.
    12. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    13. Ren, Tao & Huang, Hai-Jun, 2020. "A competitive system with transit and highway: Revisiting the political feasibility of road pricing," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 42-56.
    14. Edward L. Glaeser & James M. Poterba, 2020. "Introduction to "Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment"," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 1-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Baako, Kingsley Tetteh & Mintah, Kwabena & Zhang, Quanda, 2021. "Transport infrastructure and house prices in the long run," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-12.
    16. Mizutani, Fumitoshi, 2024. "Empirical analysis of the factors behind rail infrastructure investment," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 244-254.
    17. Edward L. Glaeser & James M. Poterba, 2021. "Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number glae-6.
    18. Ben Blemings & Margaret Bock, 2020. "Disamenity or a Signal of Competence? The Empirical Political Economy of Local Road Maintenance," Working Papers 20-07, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    19. Jianwei Shi & Shuwei Wang & Siyang Liu & Chenjing Zhou, 2024. "Unveiling Transportation Socio-Economic Adaptability Using a Node–Place Model: A Case from Zhejiang Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    20. Monika Ziemska-Osuch, 2024. "Analysis of the Relationship between Fuel Prices and Vehicle Numbers in Urban Road Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    21. Margaret Bock & Benjamin Blemings, 2024. "Road maintenance over the local election cycle," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(1), pages 129-151, January.
    22. Mrinal SAIKIA & Prakash DAS & Disha NEOG, 2023. "Evolution of growth theory: from Harrod to Romer," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(2(635), S), pages 125-138, Summer.
    23. Sobieralski, Joseph B., 2021. "Transportation infrastructure and employment: Are all investments created equal?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    24. Anna H. Jankowiak, 2018. "Transnational Corporations and Business Networks in ASEAN: Building Partnership in the Asia– Pacific Region," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 230-244, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Infrastructure; Political economy; Transportation investment; Nuisance mitigation; Elections; Imperfect information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R53 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Public Facility Location Analysis; Public Investment and Capital Stock

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