Liberal Talk Radio

A lot of reasons are given for why Seattle transit sucks. Seattle blogger Robert Farley (quoted here by Matthew Yglesias), puts forth his own theory, namely:

… let me suggest that if Seattle were MORE mobbed up, then whatever construction agency won the bid for the monorail would have significant contacts with organized crime. These organized crime organizations would have the coercive capacity necessary to intimidate property owners along 2nd Avenue (one of the premier opposition groups) into terrified submission.

Ah, brings a tear to my eyes … as Bruno noted in a PM, I do in fact wish I’d come up with that on my own.

But lest we all get a misty eyed jonz for Season Six (er, 2007? 2008?) , let me put on my professor-hat for a sec — meaning take a drink of my Scotch — and offer a slightly more advanced version of this theory.

The real reason why we have crappy transit in Seattle is what’s called a principal agent problem. The idea here is that, absent one supremely interested actor, transactions costs to negotiate among the players will be so high as to offset the benefits of the project in question. In some cities, true, that’s the Soprano guys, but it’s also got to do with the way Seattle evolved economically. Whereas in New York and Chicago you had huge monied interests with both the capacity and the will to literally move mountains and build great public works, in Seattle, historically, wealth was more dispersed.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Seattle once our nouveau riches — beyond Paul Allen, that is — finally take an interest in this town and — unlike Paul Allen — stop trying to be popular and just take care of business.