At a time of soaring deficits and deep budget cuts, the notion that the government can effectively invest public assets may seem counterintuitive. Indeed, there is widespread skepticism about the government’s capacity to do anything well at all. But public investment is a powerful way to make progress on a range of seemingly intractable social challenges. The government’s role as an investor, not just a spender, is an old American tradition overdue for revival.
A recent illustration comes from New York City, where the $4 billion NYC Housing Investment Initiative announced this month points to the ways government can harness investment to address national challenges.
The initiative makes good on Comptroller Mark Levine’s campaign pledge to direct the city’s roughly $300 billion public pension fund to invest in affordable housing. It commits to…
