---
entity_slug: transportation_infrastructure_importance
evaluator: null
evaluated_at: '2026-02-23T06:33:39.397093'
overall_score: 4.6
scores:
- name: definition_precision
  value: 4.0
  max_value: 5.0
  rationale: The definition clearly identifies transportation infrastructure's role
    in determining market extent and enabling division of labor, avoiding circularity.
    It could be slightly more precise about the mechanisms by which infrastructure
    creates these effects.
- name: source_grounding
  value: 5.0
  max_value: 5.0
  rationale: This entity is directly grounded in Smith's extensive analysis in Book
    I, Chapter 3, where he explicitly compares water-carriage versus land-carriage
    and demonstrates how transportation determines market access and economic development
    patterns.
- name: domain_placement
  value: 5.0
  max_value: 5.0
  rationale: Placement in the "Exchange" domain is correct, as transportation infrastructure
    fundamentally enables and constrains the exchange relationships that make markets
    possible and determine their geographic extent.
- name: vsm_relevance
  value: 4.0
  max_value: 5.0
  rationale: This entity maps well to S1 (as essential operational infrastructure)
    and S4 (as environmental constraint that shapes adaptive possibilities), showing
    clear VSM relevance rather than being too abstract to place.
- name: explanatory_value
  value: 5.0
  max_value: 5.0
  rationale: This entity illuminates a fundamental structural mechanism - how physical
    infrastructure creates the material conditions that enable or constrain economic
    organization, division of labor, and market formation, rather than merely describing
    surface phenomena.
---

# Evaluation: Transportation Infrastructure Importance

## definition_precision — 4.0 / 5.0

The definition clearly identifies transportation infrastructure's role in determining market extent and enabling division of labor, avoiding circularity. It could be slightly more precise about the mechanisms by which infrastructure creates these effects.

## source_grounding — 5.0 / 5.0

This entity is directly grounded in Smith's extensive analysis in Book I, Chapter 3, where he explicitly compares water-carriage versus land-carriage and demonstrates how transportation determines market access and economic development patterns.

## domain_placement — 5.0 / 5.0

Placement in the "Exchange" domain is correct, as transportation infrastructure fundamentally enables and constrains the exchange relationships that make markets possible and determine their geographic extent.

## vsm_relevance — 4.0 / 5.0

This entity maps well to S1 (as essential operational infrastructure) and S4 (as environmental constraint that shapes adaptive possibilities), showing clear VSM relevance rather than being too abstract to place.

## explanatory_value — 5.0 / 5.0

This entity illuminates a fundamental structural mechanism - how physical infrastructure creates the material conditions that enable or constrain economic organization, division of labor, and market formation, rather than merely describing surface phenomena.
