FORWARD: Eventually you need a new roof. It’s better to take care of it sooner rather than later, before the leaks start and rot sets in. If you can afford to repipe with new copper tubing, your plumbing will function better and last for the foreseeable future. If your electrical wiring is old, it’s best to replace it before it becomes hazardous.

Anyone can understand the prudence—in fact, the necessity—of such measures. And so it is with the United States’ infrastructure.

For decades now, we have been improvident, shortchanging our own future by putting too little money with too little forethought into our essential infrastructure. To give a few salient examples, we need to reinvigorate our air, rail, and highway transportation systems; repair and strengthen our electrical grid and develop renewable sources of clean energy; preserve our water resources; and subsidize research and development in order to stay at the forefront of science and technology.

These are necessities that only government can deliver. It is time to invest our money wisely, in projects that will pay off in many ways, for many years.

Let me emphasize my belief that institutionalizing sound planning and prudent investment in the current and longterm infrastructure needs of this country is a program that people of goodwill and patriotic vision from both parties can and should work together to carry out. ...

Download The Promise of Public Investment

PDF format, 749KB, 40Pages.

Prepared by William Milberg, associate professor of economics and SCEPA program coordinator at
The New School, in connection with the March 9, 2007, public discussion, the first in the series
“Questioning the Conventional Wisdom on U.S. Economic Policy.”

Contents
Foreword 3
Bob Kerrey
1. Why Prosperity Requires Public Investment 4
Bernard Schwartz
2. It’s Not the Budget Deficit, Stupid 11
William Milberg
3. Infrastructure for America’s Economy:Evaluating the Evidence 21
Teresa Ghilarducci, Michelle Holder, Jeff Madrick, Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Jonathan Schlefer
4. R eshaping Budget Politics to Build Our Future 32
Bob Kerrey
Contributors Biographies inside back cover

Visit The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis Website

The Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, made possible through a generous gift from Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz, is the economic policy research arm of the New School for Social Research Department of Economics. The activities of the Schwartz Center focus on three issues:  economic growth, employment, and inequality.  Our focus is on the U.S. economy, but always with an awareness of the global context of U.S. economic developments.

Our research is focused on the following three areas:

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The Schwartz Center's research is disseminated through a series of Working Papers and Policy Notes.  Our activities include economic policy workshops, scholarly books and conferences, and annual lectures.

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