Edward Fox & I @TaxPolicyCenter TaxVox on borrowing by the rich: "The Rich’s Real Tax Trick Isn’t ‘Buy, Borrow, Die’" taxpolicycenter.org/preview-link...
Zach Liscow
@zliscow.bsky.social
Economist & lawyer. Professor at Yale Law School: economic and tax policy, infrastructure costs. Formerly OMB Chief Economist. https://law.yale.edu/zachary-liscow
Why does government so often struggle to accomplish big things? And what can we do about it? The new ISPS Government Efficiency Working Group is on the case. Led by @jkalla.bsky.social, @zliscow.bsky.social, and @profschleich.bsky.social. Learn more: bit.ly/4dYBN8v
Me @nytopinion.nytimes.com today on the boring but effective way to tax the rich: Raise the rates. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/o...
Opinion | Here’s the Easy Way to Tax the Rich
nytimes.com
The US has an infrastructure costs problem. I testified to the Oregon legislature about how to build more for less. I said: 1. Pay more to retain the best engineers 2. Increase competition 3. Reform federal permitting 4. Improve data Here's the full piece: tobin.yale.edu/news/260501/...
What states can do to build more for less
America has an infrastructure cost problem, but researchers and states can work together to solve it
tobin.yale.edu
Professors @jacobsgoldin.bsky.social and @zliscow.bsky.social investigate the conditions under which the socially optimal legal rule is an inefficient one—and potential arguments in favor of adopting such rules.
🚨New Paper🚨 When should legal rules redistribute? Goldin & I review 4 economic reasons - & the political constraints - that justify redistributive legal rules. We hope it's a useful short general explainer of the latest research, including for law teaching. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
🚨New predoc posting🚨Come work with me at Yale! We're working on why US infrastructure takes so much time and money to build. tobin.yale.edu/programs/pre...
Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program
tobin.yale.edu
Can confirm. 30 years as a federal government employee, 25 of which involved some aspect of procurement of complex goods and services provided experience and expertise in the brokenness of government procurement.
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 6mo agoAttention good government, infrastructure, abundance, and state capacity nerds: here's a terrific new paper on how we arrived at one particularly ineffective (though good-sounding) practice -- lowest-cost bidding -- and what to do about it. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Good paper re current state procurement rules that prioritize procedural transparency enforced by adversarial legalism in an effort to obtain "low bids" over administrative discretion to choose best value. Potts shows how this has not always been the case and is the result of historic legal drift.
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 6mo agoAttention good government, infrastructure, abundance, and state capacity nerds: here's a terrific new paper on how we arrived at one particularly ineffective (though good-sounding) practice -- lowest-cost bidding -- and what to do about it. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
NEW PAPER! (w/ Fox & Love): How to tax business? 1. Corporations are now taxed more efficiently than ever. 2. Partnerships hold >$30T in assets, yet audit rates for large ones have collapsed to 0.27% because of complexity. ➔ Time to shift back to corporate taxation? Summary: tinyurl.com/376vuztu
papers.ssrn.com
Now out @jpube.bsky.social: -Unrealized gains = 40% of “economic income” for top 1% (29% adjusted for inflation) -Borrowing is just 1-2% of econ income for them -Super rich “buy, save, die," not “buy, borrow, die” - they don't need to borrow to consume papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Attention good government, infrastructure, abundance, and state capacity nerds: here's a terrific new paper on how we arrived at one particularly ineffective (though good-sounding) practice -- lowest-cost bidding -- and what to do about it. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Nice story on a new course I'm teaching on why state & local governments don't work as well as they could - and what can be done, using Connecticut as a case study. We talk about state capacity, proceduralism, participation, politics, abundance, etc. law.yale.edu/yls-today/ne...
Students Take a Deep Dive into Connecticut Policymaking
A new course taught by Professor Zachary Liscow uses Connecticut as a case study for understanding how state government can work more effectively.
law.yale.edu
We know state capacity works for roads. So why not apply these lessons to rail? #JustTransitionForCaltrans
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 10mo agoGreat piece by @davidzipper.bsky.social in @bloomberg.com on my work with Slattery & Nober on state capacity challenges building infrastructure -- and how good government workers can pay for themselves many times over. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Great piece by @davidzipper.bsky.social in @bloomberg.com on my work with Slattery & Nober on state capacity challenges building infrastructure -- and how good government workers can pay for themselves many times over. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
American Roads Are Paved With Inefficiency
Why do US highway projects cost so much? A researcher finds some surprising sources of infrastructure inflation, and points to ways to make road work more affordable.
bloomberg.com
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
US highway spending is a mess. Yale prof @zliscow.bsky.social & colleagues found that South Carolina’s DOT spends $375,500 repaving a mile of highway – more than twice as much as North Carolina. In @bloomberg.com, I spoke with Liscow about the wild inefficiencies of state DOTs.
American Roads Are Paved With Inefficiency
Why do US highway projects cost so much? A researcher finds some surprising sources of infrastructure inflation, and points to ways to make road work more affordable.
bloomberg.com
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
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/
🚨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...
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.
brookings.edu
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/...
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...
What is America’s Infrastructure Cost Problem?
“I'm part of the problem”
statecraft.pub
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...
S4E6 - Procurement and Infrastructure Costs (Zach Liscow)
open.spotify.com
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
This is a really important paper. American infrastructure is expensive because we outsourced the capacity design (or perhaps even bid) effectively.
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
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
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
Investing in competence pays off, another result "cost cutting" conservatives don't understand
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
Hello!
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
Tl;dr Engineers print money
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
Wow, this is fantastic.
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....
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?
Zach Liscow@zliscow.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨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....