This paper explores the drivers of high-rise and skyscraper construction and their impact on average happiness levels across 186 US metropolitan areas. Utilizing ordinary least squares and three-stage least squares, we find strong support that high-rise and skyscraper completion counts are a response to city economic fundamentals, but mixed results for their impact on happiness. On average, high-rises have a small negative effect, while skyscrapers exhibit a positive relationship. Further regressions suggest that skyscrapers improve sense of community and perceived health but that high-rises do not seem to positively affect any happiness subcategories. Tests on the effect of these buildings on general, mental, and physical health provide evidence of no harmful effects. The results suggest that the skyscraper benefits outweigh the possible negative externalities.

中文翻译：

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摩天大楼与城市的幸福

本文探讨了高层和摩天大楼建设的驱动因素及其对美国 186 个大都市区的平均幸福水平的影响。利用普通最小二乘法和三阶段最小二乘法，我们发现高层和摩天大楼竣工计数是对城市经济基本面的反应，但对幸福感的影响结果喜忧参半。平均而言，高层建筑的负面影响很小，而摩天大楼则表现出积极的关系。进一步的回归表明，摩天大楼提高了社区意识和健康感知，但高层建筑似乎并没有对任何幸福子类别产生积极影响。对这些建筑物对一般、心理和身体健康的影响的测试提供了没有有害影响的证据。