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OE BIDEN’S plan to lavish spending on infrastructure is a crucial part of his bid for a transformative presidency. Much of the first tranche of around $2.7trn, now entering the meatgrinder of congressional politics, will be spent on greening the American economy and tackling inequalities. About a quarter will be directed towards overhauling transport, water and other basic infrastructure a vast sum, by recent standards. Bridges to nowhere and white elephants are not the stuff of which proud legacies are made, and history’s view of the bill will depend on its specifics, which are still to be determined. Yet economic research suggests that, in the right circumstances, basic infrastructure spending has significant, positive effects in the long run.