Zach Liscow

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

Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't realized that. So I just put up a version with the appendix on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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/

Reforming permitting to build infrastructure | Brookings This paper proposes legislative actions to reform environmental policy regulations which made building U.S. infrastructure expensive and slow.

🚨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/...

What is America’s Infrastructure Cost Problem? “I'm part of the problem”

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!

Nice policy writeup on the piece from the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale: tobin.yale.edu/research/exp...

🚨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....

S4E6 - Procurement and Infrastructure Costs (Zach Liscow) Densely Speaking · Episode

🚨 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...

S4E6 - Procurement and Infrastructure Costs (Zach Liscow) # Procurement and Infrastructure Costs (Zach Liscow) [Zach Liscow](https://law.yale.edu/zachary-liscow) is Professor of Law at Yale Law School. From 2022-23, he was the Chief Economist at the White H...

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.

Has U.S. infrastructure investment really declined? The devil is in the deflator, and most deflators show it has risen since 2019

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...