American cities have experienced a remarkable renaissance over the past 40 years, but in recent years, cities have experienced considerable discontent. Anger about high housing prices and gentrification has led to protests. The urban wage premium appears to have disappeared for less skilled workers. The cities of the developing world are growing particularly rapidly, but in those places, the downsides of density are acute. In this essay, I review the causes of urban discontent and present a unified explanation for this unhappiness. Urban resurgence represents private sector success, and the public sector typically only catches up to urban change with a considerable lag. Moreover, as urban machines have been replaced by governments that are more accountable to empowered residents, urban governments do more to protect insiders and less to enable growth. The power of insiders can be seen in the regulatory limits on new construction and new businesses, the slow pace of school reform and the unwillingness to embrace congestion pricing.

中文翻译：

---

城市化及其不满

美国城市在过去 40 年经历了非凡的复兴，但近年来，城市经历了相当大的不满。对高房价和中产阶级化的愤怒引发了抗议。对于技术水平较低的工人，城市工资溢价似乎已经消失。发展中世界的城市发展特别迅速，但在这些地方，密度的不利因素非常严重。在这篇文章中，我回顾了城市不满的原因，并对这种不满给出了统一的解释。城市复兴代表着私营部门的成功，而公共部门通常只能以相当大的滞后才能赶上城市变化。此外，由于城市机器已被对获得授权的居民更负责的政府所取代，城市政府在保护内部人员方面做得更多，而在促进增长方面做得更少。内部人士的力量可以从对新建筑和新业务的监管限制、学校改革的缓慢步伐以及不愿接受拥堵收费中看出。