Evidence from 2023–2025 shows that the U.S. did continue very large, multi‑year infrastructure and industrial-policy spending programs, largely justified in terms of economic stimulus, energy transition, and national/security‑related supply‑chain resilience—and other major economies followed similar paths.

In the U.S., the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IIJA), CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) together underpin hundreds of billions in ongoing federal infrastructure outlays and crowd in large private investment. By November 2024 the White House reported that these laws had already catalyzed about $756 billion in public infrastructure spending and $1 trillion in private investment, including $568 billion announced for more than 66,000 infrastructure projects (roads, bridges, water systems, etc.), with disbursements stretching through the mid‑2020s. (bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov) Independent analyses note roughly $550 billion in new federal infrastructure projects from the IIJA plus at least $370 billion (and potentially far more) for clean‑energy and grid‑related infrastructure via the IRA, all structured as multi‑year programs rolling out beyond 2023. (wri.org) Treasury and DOE reviews in 2023 describe rapid growth in clean‑energy and energy‑infrastructure investment driven by these laws (including loan programs specifically to retool or replace energy infrastructure), confirming that large, stimulus‑like infrastructure spending continued throughout 2023 and after. (energy.gov) At the same time, the CHIPS Act has awarded multibillion‑dollar grants in 2023–2024 to companies like Intel, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries to build or expand fabs in the U.S., justified explicitly on economic and national security / supply‑chain resilience grounds—another form of large, security‑motivated infrastructure/industrial investment. (en.wikipedia.org)

Other major economies have mirrored this pattern. The EU Chips Act, adopted in 2023, is designed to mobilize around €43 billion in public and private investment in Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem, explicitly framed as strengthening security of supply, resilience, and technological sovereignty—essentially a security‑driven infrastructure/industrial policy program. (consilium.europa.eu) Japan has committed massive subsidies for semiconductor plants (e.g., over 1 trillion yen in support for TSMC fabs and a broader ~10‑trillion‑yen chip and AI plan) to rebuild its chip industry and secure supply chains amid geopolitical tensions, again explicitly tied to economic security. (reuters.com) These show that not only the U.S., but also other major economies, have indeed pursued sustained, large‑scale infrastructure/industrial spending in 2023 and beyond, closely aligned with stimulus, resilience, and national‑security objectives.

Taken together, this matches Friedberg’s prediction that “we continue to have significant infrastructure spending from both the stimulus and security point of view” in 2023 and thereafter, so the prediction is best judged as right.