Economics Explored

City Infrastructure with Craig Lawrence

Episode Summary

A lot of the infrastructure assets relevant to our daily lives, such as roads, bridges, and parks, are provided by city or municipal governments. In this episode, we ask the question: how should we assess the economic viability of city infrastructure projects? To answer this question, we’ve invited Craig Lawrence, Managing Director of Lytton Advisory, back on to the program.

Episode Notes

A lot of the infrastructure assets relevant to our daily lives, such as roads, bridges, and parks, are provided by city or municipal governments. In this episode, we ask the question: how should we assess the economic viability of city infrastructure projects? To answer this question, we’ve invited Craig Lawrence, Managing Director of Lytton Advisory, back on to the program. Lytton Advisory is an Australian professional services firm specialising in infrastructure economics and decision making.*

Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights:

• 1:00 – conversation starts with host Gene Tunny asking Craig about a recent post (A $7 Crossing) he wrote about the economic viability of Brisbane City Council’s proposed $190 million Kangaroo Point to Brisbane City pedestrian bridge
• 12:00 – discussion of external benefits (or externalities) and wider economic benefits relevant in assessment of city infrastructure projects
• 18:00 – discussion of agglomeration effects and benefits of active transport
• 23:30 – Craig delivers his assessment of the economic viability of the Brisbane City to Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge – “at the moment, there's not enough evidence on the benefit side, to be able to justify the project “
• 26:00 – further discussion of wider economic benefits – Craig notes a rule of thumb is that they should only be 15-20% on top of private benefits
• 32:00 – Gene commences conversation with Craig about Brisbane City Council’s un-costed redevelopment of Victoria Park Golf Course into a public park and how one might assess its economic viability
• 43:20 – beginning of discussion on Cross River Rail, a controversial new subway system in Brisbane which was originally costed at $5 billion but may end up costing $12 billion, a mega project which Craig has previously been sceptical about (Cross River Rail Dice Roll?) 

*Economics Explained host Gene Tunny is currently working with Craig as a Senior Associate with Lytton Advisory on projects in the Middle East and Australia.