Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment

Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment

Author: Edward L. Glaeser

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-11-11

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 022680058X

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"Policy-makers often call for expanding public spending on infrastructure, which includes a broad range of investments from roads and bridges to digital networks that will expand access to high-speed broadband. Some point to near-term macro-economic benefits and job creation, others focus on long-term effects on productivity and economic growth. This volume explores the links between infrastructure spending and economic outcomes, as well as key economic issues in the funding and management of infrastructure projects. It draws together research studies that describe the short-run stimulus effects of infrastructure spending, develop new estimates of the stock of U.S. infrastructure capital, and explore the incentive aspects of public-private partnerships (PPPs). A salient issue is the treatment of risk in evaluating publicly-funded infrastructure projects and in connection with PPPs. The goal of the volume is to provide a reference for researchers seeking to expand research on infrastructure issues, and for policy-makers tasked with determining the appropriate level of infrastructure spending"--


World Development Report 2009

World Development Report 2009

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-11-04

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 082137608X

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Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. The conclusion is not without controversy. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The WDR has a different message: economic growth is seldom balanced, and efforts to spread it out prematurely will jeopardize progress. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow. proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations. revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.


Toward More Sustainable Infrastructure

Toward More Sustainable Infrastructure

Author: Carl D. Martland

Publisher: Wiley

Published: 2011-02-22

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780470448762

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Toward More Sustainable Infrastructure: Project Evaluation for Planners and Engineers provides readers a framework for understanding and evaluating infrastructure projects to improve their performance and sustainability, taking into account not only the financial and economic issues, but also the social and environmental impacts that affect the sustainability of infrastructure. Based on a course designed developed by the author over ten years at M.I.T., this text demonstrates how to apply the basic methods of engineering economics in evaluating major infrastructure projects and also demonstrates how these same techniques can be useful with many routine business and personal decisions. It introduces students to project management, system performance, concepts of sustainability, methods of engineering economics, and provides numerous case studies, examples, and exercises based upon real world problems. This text fills a void in the education of many planners and engineering students, namely an understanding of why major infrastructure projects are undertaken, how they are structured and evaluated, and how they are financed. Toward More Sustainable Infrastructure: Project Evaluation for Planners and Engineers prepares readers to evaluate projects based upon an appreciation of the needs of society, the potential for sustainable development, and recognition of the problems that may result from poorly conceived or poorly implemented projects and programs.


Art and Cultural Heritage

Art and Cultural Heritage

Author: Barbara T. Hoffman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 9780521857642

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Art and Cultural Heritage is appropriately, but not solely, about national and international law respecting cultural heritage. It is a bubbling cauldron of law mixed with ethics, philosophy, politics and working principles looking at how cultural heritage law, policy and practice should be sculpted from the past as the present becomes the future. Art and cultural heritage are two pillars on which a society builds its identity, its values, its sense of community and the individual. The authors explore these demanding concerns, untangle basic values, and look critically at the conflicts and contradictions in existing art and cultural heritage law and policy in its diverse sectors. The rich and provocative contributions collectively provide a reasoned discussion of the issues from a multiplicity of views to permit the reader to understand the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of the cultural heritage debate.


The Artificial River

The Artificial River

Author: Carol Sheriff

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 1997-06-12

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780809016051

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The story of the Eric Canal is the story of industrial and economic progress between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The Artificial River reveals the human dimension of the story of the Erie Canal. Carol Sheriff's extensive, innovative archival research shows the varied responses of ordinary people-farmers, businessmen, government officials, tourists, workers-to this major environmental, social, and cultural transformation in the early life of the Republic. Winner of Best Manuscript Award from the New York State Historical Association "The Artificial River is deeply researched, its arguments are both subtle and clear, and it is written with grace and an engagingly light touch. The book merits a wide readership." --Paul Johnson, The Journal of American History