Time to Build: The Case of Chinese Airports

The New York Times has some nice things to say about Chinese public sector efficiency.  The piece hints that you have to break some eggs to make an omelette but it acknowledges that China is building a high quality public capital stock at low average cost and a low time cost. These megacity airport investments are helping China's cities to grow at a time when U.S urban infrastructure all has that nasty 1950s cracking look to it.   The New York Times could have done a better job if it had sat down with a spreadsheet and calculated the total union labor cost of building a similar airport in the U.S and the NIMBY land siting issues and land regulation lawsuits that would be required for assembling the necessary land for building a major airport.