Brett M. Frischmann, Infrastructure: the social value of shared resources.

Abstract

Brett Frischmann starts his captivating and challenging book with some figures providedby the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), according to which ‘‘more than 26 %,or one in four, of the nation’s [U.S.’s] bridges are either structurally deficient or func-tionally obsolete’’ (p. ix–x). From this, Frischmann generalizes that ‘‘we have a majorinfrastructure problem in the United States’’ (p. x). This problem is not limited to bridgesbut, also affects other resources that Frischmann defines as infrastructures including: theinternet, basic research, ideas, language, law, and the environment. One can assume thatthe problem identified by Frischamnn transcends national boundaries since it is rooted in aflawed theoretical approach to managing infrastructures. More precisely, Frischmannclaims that ‘‘our’’ approach to managing infrastructures is ‘‘complacent, reactive, piece-meal… [and] incredibly shortsighted’’ (p. x). Changing it ‘‘entails a dramatic shift–perhapsa paradigm shift–away from the conventional position favoring market provisioning andmarkets ‘free’ from government intervention’’ (p. 368). Indeed, the complacency Frisch-mann denounces is the one that we have in favor of market provisioning that leads, in hisview, to a ‘‘myopic focus on supply-side issues’’ (p. 18). In effect, the problem is that thesestandard pro-market approaches to infrastructures begin by focusing at the individual level.They base the type and amount of infrastructure to provide on the willingness of indi-viduals to pay for it. This means that the social value of infrastructures correspond to, andcan be reduced to, the sum of the individual evaluations and demands.Frischmann claims that this type of approach misunderstands what generates the socialvalue of infrastructures because it fundamentally misunderstands the real nature of infra-structure resources. From this perspective, a crucial element, not sufficiently emphasized,is that infrastructures do not have any inherent value outside of downstream demand. Or, toput it differently, the social value of infrastructures is a function of the commercial andnon-commercial activities that infrastructures allow direct users, and indirect non-users, topursue.