Regarding c), the crappy government jobs digging holes probably would be a positive outcome.
People on welfare can sit around watching TV, playing sports or engaging in other recreational activities [1]. This is probably more pleasant than getting a job. If we replaced recreation with hole digging, people on welfare would have a greater incentive to find a job.
Regarding d), this is only true if additional education and infrastructure provide a greater benefit to the economy than their opportunity cost (e.g. the cost to business and consumers of the taxes paid to support education/infrastructure). It's not by any means clear that this is the case.
[1] Based on obesity rates among the poor, I suspect watching TV is much more common than playing sports.
In the US, obesity causes about 112,000 deaths yearly [1]. 14,000 or so people were murdered [2], mostly by people they knew [3].
This doesn't give relative risks in any given neighborhood, of course, but it is suggestive. Also, personal experience: Harlem is extremely safe, but you see lots of obesity and very little sports activity there.
People on welfare can sit around watching TV, playing sports or engaging in other recreational activities [1]. This is probably more pleasant than getting a job. If we replaced recreation with hole digging, people on welfare would have a greater incentive to find a job.
Regarding d), this is only true if additional education and infrastructure provide a greater benefit to the economy than their opportunity cost (e.g. the cost to business and consumers of the taxes paid to support education/infrastructure). It's not by any means clear that this is the case.
[1] Based on obesity rates among the poor, I suspect watching TV is much more common than playing sports.