The Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
The Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
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DOI：
10.1016/j.soscij.2012.11.003
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发表时间：
2012-12
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
P. Hodges;S. Carson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
P. Hodges;S. Carson
几代人以来，专家们都在预测城市的消亡。由于运输和通信费用不断下降，社会和经济交流的便利将使城市集中过时。事实上，情况正好相反。人口不再变得更加农村化和分散，而是更加集中，城市生活被视为与农村地区一样令人向往，甚至比农村地区更健康。那么，是什么导致了这一意外的转变呢？正是在这种背景下，哈佛经济学家爱德华·格莱泽（Edward Glaeser）探讨了国际人口讽刺地选择城市生活方式的无数原因，同时技术和经济交流使农村生活变得越来越方便。只有当城市居住的净收益随着时间的推移是正的时，人们才会选择城市化，只有当贴现后的净收益随着时间的推移大于农村生活，减去搬迁成本时，我们才会留在城市。正如格莱泽所指出的，城市生活的相当一部分是经济性的，没有什么地方比城市生活的外部性更明显的净效益了。外部性是指不参与交易的经济主体所产生的成本或收益。考虑外部性的最简单方法是溢出效应，这些溢出效应可以是正面的，也可以是负面的。当利益增加到不参与交易的各方时，就会产生正外部性，这些正外部性是发达经济体和发展中经济体的个人城市化的重要解释。原因归结到劳动力市场。与你身边或桌子对面的人一起工作或向他们学习比半个世界之外的数字连接更有效率。例如，在发达城市纽约、弗朗西斯科和东京，与同事的亲密接触会增加沟通，促进创新，提高生产力。此外，现代预期寿命和报告的幸福水平在城市地区更高。城市化与更高的生产力和教育有关，而教育又与更高的生活水平、收入和财富有关。城乡的取舍也说明了一价定律的经济原理。如果一个市场能迅速地将所有相关信息纳入价格，并消除风险调整套利机会，那么这个市场就是有效的;无风险地在低价买入并在高价卖出的机会是随机的，在均衡中会耗尽。城乡与生产力的相互作用进一步说明了市场力量，因为城市邻近提高了城市的生活价格。然而，城市生活价格的上涨使低收入劳动者进一步边缘化，现代城市成为富人和穷人的圣地。溢出效应也会产生不利后果，当成本增加到不参与交易的第三方时，就会产生负外部性。两个重要的城市负外部性是疾病和犯罪。在发展中国家，当人口集中在人口稠密地区时，传染病和传染病就会增加，城市地区的这类疾病比农村地区的要多。正如人口经历人口结构转型一样，城市人口也经历了疾病-公共基础设施转型。当发展中经济体的城市人口增长开始增加时，人口密集地区增加了传染病和传染病传播的途径。然而，为了保持有吸引力的目的地，城市政府官员必须制定有效的手段来减少疾病;否则城市...
For generations, pundits have predicted the demise of cities. Given decreasing transportation and communication costs, the ease with which social and economic exchanges would be conducted would make urban concentration outdated. In fact, the opposite is true. Rather than becoming more rural and spread out, populations are ever more concentrated, and urban life has come to be seen as desirable as or even healthier than rural locations. So, what is responsible for this unexpected turn of events? It is against this backdrop that Harvard economist, Edward Glaeser, explores the myriad of reasons that international populations have ironically chosen urban lifestyles at the same time that technology and economic exchange have made rural living increasingly more convenient. Individuals only choose to urbanize if the net benefits from city dwelling over time are positive, and we remain in cities only if the discounted net benefits over time are greater than rural living, less the cost of relocation. As Glaeser points out, a considerable part of urban living is economic, and nowhere are the net benefits of urban living more apparent than in the case of externalities. An externality is a cost or benefit that accrues to economic agents not involved in a transaction. The simplest way to think of externalities is spillover effects, and these spillover effects can be either positive or negative. A positive externality occurs when benefits accrue to parties not involved in a transaction, and these positive externalities are important explanations for why individuals in both developed and developing economies urbanize. The reasons come down to the labor market. It is simply more productive to work with or learn from someone alongside you or across the table than digitally connected half a world away. For example, in the developed cities of New York and San Francisco and Tokyo, close proximity with co-workers increases communication, fosters innovation, and increases productivity. Moreover, modern life expectancies and reported levels of happiness are higher in urban locations. Urbanization is associated with greater productivity and education, which is associated with greater living standards, income, and wealth. The urban-rural trade-off also illustrates the economic principle of the law of one price. A market is said to be efficient if it quickly incorporates all relevant information into prices and eliminates risk adjusted arbitrage opportunities; opportunities to risklessly buy at low prices and sell at high prices are random and exhausted in equilibrium. The urban-rural interplay with productivity further illustrates market forces because urban proximity increases the price of living in cities. However, when the price of city living increases, it further marginalizes low income workers, and modern cities have become meccas for both rich and poor.Spillover affects also have detrimental consequences, and negative externalities occur when costs accrue to third parties not involved in a transaction. Two important urban negative externalities are disease and crime. Infectious and communicable diseases increase in developing countries when populations concentrate in densely populated areas, and such diseases in urban areas are higher than in rural areas. Just as populations go through demographic transitions, city populations go through a disease-public infrastructure transition. When urban population growth in developing economies begins to increase, densely populated areas increase the means by which infectious and communicable disease spreads. However, to remain attractive destinations, urban government officials must develop effective means to reduce disease; else urban …