In the New York Times, Ezra Klein investigated the recent Goolsbee and Syverson paper on construction productivity we recently looked at. Klein suggests that the stagnation in construction productivity might be the result of organized special interests increasingly leveraging their influence over various parts of the construction process. This shows up as more complex and difficult to accommodate regulations, and groups whose approval must be secured (often at great expense) to get something built. While all sectors display this to some extent, construction, by virtue of the number of stakeholders involved (local residents, politicians, zoning boards, etc.) might show it more than others. Here’s Klein: