A report from the International Monetary Fund in late 2014 contained the following observations: "Five years after the global financial crisis, the economic recovery continues but remains weak. ... Given ... the current environment of low government borrowing costs ... might this be a good time to increase public infrastructure investment?"
a. What does the report mean by "low government borrowing costs"? Why would low government borrowing costs be relevant to whether a government increases infrastructure investment?
b. The report also notes, "In advanced economies an increase in infrastructure investment ... is one of the few remaining policy levers available to support growth." What does the report mean by a "policy lever"? Why would the authors of the report consider infrastructure one of the few remaining policy levers?