New York's subway cost premium is overstaffing, oversized stations and procurement, not high wages.

design How things should be made and judged: what makes a design good, who should do the designing, and what an interface is for.

team size How many people a thing needs, and what the extra ones cost: headcount, coordination, and the small-team claim.

infrastructure Building the large physical things -- reservoirs, roads, pipelines -- and why some countries have stopped being able to.