USA Today ran a front page story on the the impacts of early stimulus projects. While the story focused on the businesses and families that hope to benefit from the stimulus spending, there was one dissenting skeptic:

Eric Fruits of Economics International in Portland, Ore., warns that stimulus spending may not revive the economy in the long run. “Borrowed money has to be repaid. A job today may come at the cost of someone not having a job in two or three years,” the economist says.

INRIX released a report of the 100 most congested cities in the U.S. The study reports that traffic congestion across the U.S. increased nearly 2 percent in 2007 over 2006.

Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago are the most congested cities, according to the study.  The Portland-Vancouver (pdf) area is ranked 21, right behind the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area.

Eric Fruits was invited by the Columbia Corridor Association to present a speech on the Portland’s transportation economy.  With the proposed Columbia River Crossing recently in the news [1,2,3], the conversation focused on the principles of congestion pricing, its benefits, and it complexities.

Some of the discussion covered recent issues in cutting carbon and light rail.

The slides and some brief notes are available for download (PDF).

Economists are notorious for offering advice on how to boost economic growth. So why in the world would some one provide advice on how to slow a state’s economy? Answer: To cut carbon emissions.

Eric Fruits writes in Oregon Business that the state’s efforts to cut carbon are sure to reduce the state’s economic growth. Similarly, reducing economic growth is one way to cut carbon emissions. Dr. Fruits provides five ways in which cutting carbon will slow the state’s economy:

1. Carbon taxes mean that every good purchased by every household and business in the state would be more expensive
2. “Green” energy mandates, euphemistically known as renewable portfolio standards, force companies to use more expensive sources of energy
3. Deferring road maintenance will reduce the flow of goods in an out of the state.
4. Eliminating industrial land means that carbon emitting businesses will have to locate elsewhere.
5. “Picking winners” with “green” tax credits will stifle investment in other businesses in the state.

Politicians and the planners they hire argue that streetcars and other rail projects provide a magical opportunity to change the zoning and uses of languishing urban areas.

Eric Fruits writes in Oregon Business that there is nothing magical about streetcars.  Politicians always have the opportunity to wave their zoning wands to accommodate developers demands.  Streetcars are to development as french fries are to a burger platter–a nice, but not necessary, complement.

Eric Fruits provided deposition testimony regarding the relationship between the activities of Indian tribes and Tribal retail motor fuel stations (“gas stations”). Dr. Fruits conducted a survey of gas station customers to evalute the extent to which Tribal membership or Tribal activities attracted customers to the gas stations. Dr. Fruits performed an analysis of the costs of highway improvements and how improvements could be funded from Tribal motor fuel revenues. Squaxin Island Tribe, et al. v. Stephens.