If you get a chance, you should read (or listen to) Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses[1] who built much if not most of the parks in New York. He built many of them at a time with Roosevelt was using public money to provide jobs for people thrown out of work during the Great Depression. These public works projects are often scorned by today's electorate.
But perhaps more importantly, getting insights into how the government building things gives the people who can grant contracts tremendous political leverage and power. It is remarkable to see that what he built was definitely good for New Yorkers (although as the book points out, really for rich and white New Yorkers) and the distortions they caused in the political machine caused some people serious grief from loss of property to loss of their entire livelihood.
Authoritarian systems can operate like that but it comes at a tremendous cost.
But perhaps more importantly, getting insights into how the government building things gives the people who can grant contracts tremendous political leverage and power. It is remarkable to see that what he built was definitely good for New Yorkers (although as the book points out, really for rich and white New Yorkers) and the distortions they caused in the political machine caused some people serious grief from loss of property to loss of their entire livelihood.
Authoritarian systems can operate like that but it comes at a tremendous cost.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Broker