But America's dependence on foreign oil does have significant macroeconomic effects. In fact, it might even be negative given the exacerbation of the trade balance deficit and the concomitant effect on the dollar and interest rates. While transit's contribution in these areas is undeniable, affixing a dollar value to them is problematic. These benefits are discussed in the next section of this report, and several specific examples are given. Although the benefits are substantial, particularly in the case of rail system investments, no systematic nationwide study has been done to provide a reliable stimate.
Sprawl is a terribly inefficient way for a region to grow.
In his report for the Economic Policy Institute, David Alan Aschauer demonstrated the importance of public investment in physical infrastructure to the stimulation of private sector productivity, profitability and investment. According to Aschauer, there is a direct linkage between the performance of the U.S. economy and its level of public spending on public infrastructure, including transit, bridges, sewers, electric power systems, etc. These public facilities are as necessary to the production process as a firm's own capital equipment. In subsequent work, Aschauer found that investment in transit has an even bigger payoff, and sooner, than an equivalent dollar investment in highways. It is evident that transit spending carries over twice the potential to impact productivity as does highway spending.