POSTPONING INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS COULD CREATE CREDIT PROBLEMS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

• Position: News & Numbers

Putting off infrastructure investments could lead to a "form of 'soft' debt that will compete with pension liabilities and other governmental mandates for funding," according to a recent report from Moody's Investors Service, as reported by Route Fifty. Moody's analysis of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis figures suggests an "ongoing buildup of deferred infrastructure maintenance."

State and local capital Investment, unadjusted for inflation, hit a peak in 2009 as a percentage of gross domestic product at about 2.6 percent, according to Moody's. Since then, it has declined to 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017. "If...