For example, in 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act introduced Americans to the concept of a “shovel-ready project.” These projects, which had completed all of the planning, environmental reviews, and design work and were stalled merely from a lack of funding, were presented as the best hope for quickly getting money flowing and people back to work. In my experience, these were not the best projects; they were the worst. Having gone through the lengthy process of planning and design, when the moment of decision came, local leaders opted to accept their sunk costs and table the
...more
