ABSTRACT
Public policy is often about immediate or short-term benefits and costs, and infrastructure typically has high costs and long lives. Politicians, while bitterly divided with respect to many matters of public policy, seem to agree that spending on infrastructure creates jobs and should be undertaken to produce gains in employment and to stimulate the economy by creating construction employment. Financial support for infrastructure in the United States has almost always been characterized by partnerships among private and public actors, and it is reasonable to expect that this will continue to be true in the future. Infrastructure maintenance and investment is tied to specific places with their own particular economic and governance issues. Transportation systems, including canals, roads, and rail systems, have relied on tolls and fares to finance infrastructure, using long-term loans through bonding to acquire the land needed and to design and build the considerable capital plant, and using some revenue also to contribute to financing operations.
