World Offers Cautionary Tale for Trump’s Infrastructure Plan
Pranab Bardhan said that It hasn’t worked out,
Two years ago, China invited private investors to finance more than 2,000 proposed infrastructure projects totaling an estimated $622 billion.
"There’s simply no reason to turn to private capital and all the complications, uncertainties, and opportunities for corruption and bad outcomes
that you add to the mix." China provides a textbook case of what happens when the state invests aggressively in infrastructure.
LONDON — The rest of the planet bears a warning for President Trump’s plan to lean heavily on private business in conjuring a trillion
dollars’ worth of American infrastructure: Handing profit-making companies responsibility for public works can produce trouble.
"They cannot wait 40 years, and they are simply not able to take into account the additional tax revenues for the government." India’s heavy reliance on so-called public-private partnerships — the mechanism Mr. Trump has in mind — comes not from some ideological predisposition toward private enterprise,
but from the fact that its government is short of financing.
" Dr. Ansar said. that Had China focused on about a third of its most productive investments,
it would have reaped lasting economic benefits without the debt overhang,