>>1757272> So domestic industry fails and knowledge is not keptBut if the industry has quality/efficiency/productivity problems, protectionism won't do anything other than spread its disease to the rest of society. Look at US shipbuilding, and how between the Jones Act and guaranteed naval contracts, it's only grown less competitive with time, with detrimental effects on prices and naval procurement plans. Or the US space programme, and how political procurement decisions to 'maintain heritage industry' in politically-connected regions repeatedly degraded it.
And with infrastructure, you're talking decades to centuries' worth of effects on society. If high costs erode your budget, you'll end up with less, with all the attendant consequences (including crippling related industries), a deadweight loss which likely outweighs whatever social good came from the procurement strategy. High metro construction prices, for example, mean that the US builds far less metro lines than one would expect, which means it lacks the volume to sustain fully domestic rolling stock providers or build experience, producing yet higher prices and greater import dependence.
