Ryan takes issue with Greg Mankiw’s contention that infrastructure is a local issue. Besides the Federal Governments Constitutional purview of Interstate Commerce, Mankiw is also wrong because political boundaries are often arbitrary, capricious or outdated.

Take the greater New York City area, which is composed of three states and at the very least 16 counties. As I’ve previously wrote about in The 51st State – State of New York City and Comparing NYC & Washington DC, it is more logical to think of the greater NYC area using both OMB and Census Bureau’s Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area than existing political boundaries. Currently the Census Bureau counts over 170 MSA’s ranging from Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA to Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN to Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY. You can even download a map of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas of the United States and Puerto Rico, December 2006.

All of this is to reinforce that while infrastructure does have a local use component, the funding, design and policy aims of the greater American infrastructure network is decidedly Federal in nature and needs to be part of the larger political process.