Let the Rent Seeking Begin

The Institutional Economics blog points to this story:

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) today called for shovel-ready zoo and aquarium infrastructure projects to be eligible for Federal stimulus funding....Many zoos have their roots in the Great Depression, when the Federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) helped build many zoos across America.

Of course, this lobbying is part of the political process. Whether the AZA gets the money it wants for new zoos will be up to the new administration and Congress. I am sure that the Obama transition team is now carefully evaluating many hundreds of billions of dollars of proposed spending projects and will, over the next few weeks, determine precisely which of these pass a cost-benefit test.

As for me, I think dropping money out of a helicopter is looking better and better. (Or, more seriously, consider my federalist fiscal stimulus.)