Nice story on a new course I'm teaching on why state & local governments don't work as well as they could - and what can be done, using Connecticut as a case study. We talk about state capacity, proceduralism, participation, politics, abundance, etc. law.yale.edu/yls-today/ne...

We know state capacity works for roads. So why not apply these lessons to rail? #JustTransitionForCaltrans

Great piece by @davidzipper.bsky.social in @bloomberg.com on my work with Slattery & Nober on state capacity challenges building infrastructure -- and how good government workers can pay for themselves many times over. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

US highway spending is a mess. Yale prof @zliscow.bsky.social & colleagues found that South Carolina’s DOT spends $375,500 repaving a mile of highway – more than twice as much as North Carolina. In @bloomberg.com, I spoke with Liscow about the wild inefficiencies of state DOTs.

Connecticut is going to spend $1 billion on a moveable bridge to serve *one* boat that goes up and down the river. The Army Corps of Engineers was inflexible on this issue despite the cost bloat. Should be a go to example for “marble cake federalism.” By @zliscow.bsky.social interviewed by Ruiz

On Sep 24 (Wednesday), Ed Fox (Michigan), Zach Liscow (Yale) and Michael Love (Columbia), will present the draft paper, “Corporate vs. Pass Through Taxation: the Role of Economic Rents and Legibility”, at the Mizzou Law Tax Policy Colloquium, from 2:00 to 3:15 pm Central Time. 1/

🚨New paper! I propose specific actions to reform permitting, balancing a reduction in back-end litigation with more robust and inclusive front-end planning, preserving core values while adapting to modern needs. www.brookings.edu/articles/ref...

The US has a lot of lawyers per capita, and unsurprisingly it has a lot of lawsuits per capita, which probably matters for our ability to build things. Info by way of @zliscow.bsky.social pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

I had a great time talking with Santi Ruiz @ifp.bsky.social about how to reduce infrastructure costs. Here's the podcast. www.statecraft.pub/p/what-is-am...

Fantastic talk on cutting transit construction costs and getting lots more great transit with @zliscow.bsky.social, @stephanie-pollack.bsky.social and @egoldwyn.bsky.social at @yimbytown.bsky.social.

Check out our conversation on Densely Speaking with Zach about this research from earlier this year. @gregshill.com open.spotify.com/episode/6HcN...

This is a really important paper. American infrastructure is expensive because we outsourced the capacity design (or perhaps even bid) effectively.

The implication of the outsourcing of state capacity loom large over this paper. The results are clear but it’s more impactful if you read between the lines

Investing in competence pays off, another result "cost cutting" conservatives don't understand

Hello!

Tl;dr Engineers print money

Wow, this is fantastic.

Rhetorical question: What do we think is going to result from the culling of experienced engineers (and other subject matter experts) at the Fed level too?

Key point for those of us trying to figure out ST3 costs. State capacity is a key piece of the puzzle.

Probably true in Canada and for more than just highways I would reckon

Hmmm, maybe we should hire in-house civil engineers instead of relying on massive multinational consulting firms to do our work for us? Imagine that!

🚨NEW RESULTS (w/ Slattery & Nober) - When gov't engineers retire, highway projects cost more: the engineers pay for themselves 6 times over - Improving gov’t engineer quality from the 25th to 75th percentile reduces costs by 14%, equal to 3x avg. engineer pay Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.

No way to run a railroad www.wsj.com/economy/cpi-...

🚨NEW PAPER🚨 w/ Elmendorf & Hubbard. We find: - Growth-enhancing policies almost certainly cannot stabilize federal debt on their own - But such policies can reduce the tax hikes/spending cuts needed to stabilize debt - We need more research here Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

🚨 New episode of Densely Speaking pod! @jeffrlin.bsky.social and I interview Yale Law prof & former Chief OMB Economist @zliscow.bsky.social about his paper, Procurement and Infrastructure Costs. Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6HcN... Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Finally got around to listening to @gregshill.com, @jeffrlin.bsky.social, and @zliscow.bsky.social talking about procurement, megaprojects, road repavings, and Zach’s extensive body of work on these topics. Excellent stuff! densely-speaking.pinecast.co/episode/c070...

One of the surprising-to-me conclusions of the research is the extent to which state DOT workforces are smaller than they were 20-30 years ago. The highway people always seem to have infinite capacity compared to us transit and active transportation people!

Very important, simple statement from @zliscow.bsky.social in this: the more staff a DOT has, the lower its costs are (at least as measured in this study)

UPDATE: I obtained a copy of the firm-wide email and attachment that Brad Karp, the chairman of Paul Weiss, sent to employees on Thursday evening. The documents detail the agreement Karp reached with the White House before Trump rescinded his executive order targeting the firm.

One of the most amusing parts of this very poorly done essay is citing one @zliscow.bsky.social paper as evidence against an argument based on another @zliscow.bsky.social paper. Made me want to have a “Marshall McLuhan” in Annie Hall moment.

Today @briefingbook.bsky.social, relating to debate b/t @jasonfurman.bsky.social & @ernietedeschi.bsky.social/@ericvannostrand.bsky.social. My best guess is highway investment didn't go up under Biden -this shows value of countercyclical infrastructure spending. www.briefingbook.info/p/has-us-inf...

It is almost as if these government folks actually do stuff.

🚨NEW RESULTS (w/ Slattery & @wnober.bsky.social) When gov't engineers retire, projects take longer & costs (& cost overruns) go up. It’s harder to manage projects well w/ reduced staffing. Important to remember as DOGE cuts: reduced staffing can actually hurt efficiency. Paper: tinyurl.com/yvy2jt93

🚨NEW RESULTS (w/ Slattery & @wnober.bsky.social) When gov't engineers retire, projects take longer & costs (& cost overruns) go up. It’s harder to manage projects well w/ reduced staffing. Important to remember as DOGE cuts: reduced staffing can actually hurt efficiency. Paper: tinyurl.com/yvy2jt93

This is how DOGE is making our government *less* efficient. Firing the people who conduct the benefit-cost analysis of transportation grants will cause worse decisions. It's penny wise, pound foolish. Their salaries are tiny compared to what they can do to deliver cost savings.

New blockbuster issue of the JEP out now: @zliscow.bsky.social on the economics of permitting, @instrumenthull.bsky.social and coauthors on shift-shares, and a symposium on the 2023 US merger guidelines: www.aeaweb.org/issues/793 #EconSky

Great to see my paper "Getting Infrastructure Built: The Law and Economics of Permitting" out in the Journal of Economic Perspectives Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Thread on the paper 👇

Submit a proposal to the Law of Abundance conference! Deadline is February 14.

New and important: we built a federal expenditure tracker. All expenditure line items that are available on the Daily Treasury Statement. USAID was zeroed out on 1/28 and has been at zero ever since. www.hamiltonproject.org/data/trackin... #EconSky

This NYT article "inside the chaotic rollout" of the funding freeze is somewhat guileless. It implies that OMB went rogue in not doing enough vetting with the West Wing. But the idea that the acting OMB director, a sophisticated career civil servant who knows the rules, ...

Why OMB's order yesterday to stop disbursing funds is unlawful ⬇️

I see some suggestions, in the reporting regarding the OMB impoundment order, that a mere delay in spending appropriated funds is legal. But that's not really true. The delay OMB has ordered specifically contradicts the Impoundment Control Act. A thread.

The take away from an important new paper on saving/borrowing patter of the wealthy: raising marginal rates at the top is quite effective.

NEW PAPER! (w/ Ed Fox) We study 1) how much the wealthy borrow, quantifying “buy-borrow-die” for the first time, and 2) how much unrealized gains impact their taxes. The results changed (some of) our thinking on how to tax those at the top. 🧵 w/ findings ⬇️ Paper is here: ssrn.com/abstract=510...

If you're writing about the ways in which government could do better and do more to address failing and inadequate infrastructure and housing shortages, consider submitting your work to the upcoming Law of Abundance Conference --

Together with @zliscow.bsky.social and @niskanencenter.bsky.social, I'm organizing a conference on the Law of Abundance. Please submit an abstract (due Feb. 14) for possible selection -- and help us get the word out!

@nbagley.bsky.social, @niskanencenter.bsky.social, and I are organizing a conference on the Law of Abundance in early 2026. Please spread word -- and submit a paper proposal!

New paper posted to SSRN, a few more to come later this week. The primary claim in this one is that legality and authoritarianism can be politically and administratively synergistic. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Really cool job alert! Come work with me @niskanencenter.bsky.social to advocate for effective transportation policy. www.niskanencenter.org/senior-polic...