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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Harrisburg Pennsylvania. An excellent detailed analysis of a town on a gambling bender.

This link. It is extensive, detailed, and educational. Read it. Only one early paragraph is excerpted.

The vast majority of Harrisburg’s bonded indebtedness stems from improvements made to the city’s trash incinerator plant. According to the Patriot-News, Harrisburg’s local newspaper (a lot of the information in this post is derived from their excellent coverage), the incinerator plant has been a major source of financial trouble for the city since it opened in the early 1970s, yet city officials have demonstrated an inexplicable devotion to throwing money at the project. (This story is, in fact, one long lesson in not allowing sunk costs to influence decision-making. Not everyone pays attention in economics, apparently.)

[red highlighting added]. There is much wisdom to extract from the story of Harrisburg, and aside from that it is an interesting story. One presenting a snapshot of how a distant municipality consistently acted to put and keep itself behind the 8-ball, over irrational ongoing dedication to a single failing municipal project (indeed, a project first embarked upon with great expectations and not without early promise of success).

Again, please read the entire detailed analysis. It is an excellent analysis of an intriguing story - this link.