Rx for productivity: build infrastructure

This article looks at recent trends in public works expenditures and relates the fall-off in such spending with the productivity slowdown that became evident in the United States around 1970. The decline in public capital spending on dams, highways, sewers, mass transit, etc., relative to employment and private investment in plant and machinery forced private business to absorb higher costs, and thereby lowered productivity. A stronger commitment to America's infrastructure by the public sector is necessary for at least two reasons: (1) a well-maintained public works system contributes to an expanding, robust economy, and (2) directly and indirectly, it contributes to an improved standard of living.