This Is Not News

We’re back home after a weekend trip that involved a lot of time on the Pennsylvania Turnpike – some of it driving. And it occurred to me that Pennsylvania, like several other states, is considering leasing its toll roads to for-profit companies, and then using the proceeds to pay for major initiatives (in Pennsylvania’s case, new highway construction and mass transit funding). As I understand it, the logic is that the for-profit company would be willing to pay the lease fee because it could make a profit by increasing tolls and employing other techniques to increase use of the roads and revenue. So maybe it’s a stupid question, but – why can’t the state just do that? Is there such an internal resistance to the government maximizing its revenue that the only way it can derive the full benefit of the resources it provides is to let someone else do it? Something about the logic just isn’t clicking with me.