Foundation of sand: Increasing efficiency by devolution. Transit productivity during the Reagan-Bush years

Members of both major political parties in the United States argue that the activities, power, and expenditures of the federal government are excessive and need to be curbed by devolving an extensive array of governmental functions to the states, localities, and the private sector. Among the assertions made in support of this devolution position is that federal involvement breeds waste and inefficiency. The history of urban transit in the United States during the 1980s was one of devolving the federal funding role in transit to lower levels of government. Thus, transit provides an exquisite test bed for assertions that federal involvement leads to inefficiency. If such assertions are true, transit efficiency should have improved remarkably during the 1980s. However, changes in transit efficiency during the 1980s appear to be largely unrelated to changes in federal transit funding. Thus, one of the basic arguments in support of devolution seems to be built on a foundation of sand.