Highway Spending May Not Provide Long-Term Boost

Wall Street Journal: “One of the few things that Democrats and Republicans agree on is that spending billions of dollars on America’s roads would boost productivity and the U.S. economy’s growth prospects.”

“Economists aren’t so sure. A wide body of research focused on the effects of highway spending suggests that major new investment in U.S. roads would generate little, if any, long-term economic gain.”

“That is because the U.S. already has an extensive system of roads, so building more wouldn’t add much to productivity, economists say.”