https://RationalAmerica.com/tags/public-policy/Recent content in Public Policy on Rational AmericaHugoen-usMon, 07 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/2026-09-07-the-secret-of-sane-government-what-every-voter-nee/Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/2026-09-07-the-secret-of-sane-government-what-every-voter-nee/<p>The fluorescent lights hummed. The hearing room smelled like stale coffee and nervous deodorant. On the agenda: whether to extend a school mask mandate that expired at midnight. Nobody on the committee had opened the department&rsquo;s epidemiological bulletin that morning. Nobody had read the expert testimony from the week before. But everybody, it turned out, had an opinion.</p> <p>In under forty minutes they voted to let the mandate lapse. The director of public health — seated, unmiked, in the back row — never got asked a single question.</p>https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/infrastructure-spending-and-long-term-productivity/Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/infrastructure-spending-and-long-term-productivity/<p>You’re sitting in traffic for the third time this week, watching the brake lights stretch to the horizon. That bridge over the river? The one they said would be fixed by the summer of 2023? It’s still there. Scaffolding, cones, and a sign that’s been fading for months. And you ask yourself, does any of this actually matter in the long run?</p> <p>The answer is a resounding yes. Infrastructure spending is one of the few things that can genuinely boost long-term productivity, but only if we get it right. And that’s a big if. Let’s unpack why this isn’t just about pouring concrete, and why economists keep going back to the same dusty reports to argue over second-order multiplier effects. Because here’s the kicker: infrastructure decisions made today will shape whether your grandchildren have efficient logistics or crumbling roads.</p>