2025 Leon N. Moses Distinguished Lecture in Transportation

Amplified Gains from Transportation Infrastructure Investments

Abstract:

Traditional methods of evaluating infrastructure investments assume that other sectors of the economy are functioning well and efficiently. In practice, this is generally not true. Some of the goods shipped sell in markets that are not very competitive. Firms may also have difficulty accessing financing to take advantage of new opportunities. Using the example of the expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s, the talk illustrates that failing to take these non-transportation distortions into account lead to a substantial understatement of the role of the railroads in the aggregate growth of the United States. This framework can be applied generally to reconsider the economic gains from future transportation infrastructure investments.

Bio:

Richard Hornbeck is the V. Duane Rath Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Rick is an economic historian and applied-micro economist, whose research focuses on the historical development of the American economy. He views history as informing why some places and some people have become wealthier, while others have remained poorer, which can provide perspective on what factors might drive widespread improvements in living standards. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, affiliated with programs on the Development of the American Economy, Development Economics, and Environmental and Energy Economics.

Prior to joining Chicago Booth in 2015, Rick was the Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History in the Economics Department at Harvard University. He received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2014 and was selected for the 2009 Review of Economic Studies Tour. He received a PhD in economics from MIT in 2009 and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 2004.

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