POVERTY and underdevelopment are among the most pressing problems of our time. It has been persuasively argued that transfers of wealth and knowledge alone cannot solve these problems—it is also necessary to put in place political and legal institutions that will stimulate growth and development. But how to establish such institutions in the least developed parts of the world where regimes are often “extractive” and have no desire to see change? Revolution is difficult, and often accompanied by instability and violence, as recent events in the Middle East show. Nor can those living under oppressive regimes easily move to more desirable locations, as the travails of illegal migrants journeying to America and Europe remind us daily. It is entirely reasonable to demand that the developed world permit greater inward migration, especially in the form of guest worker programs. Yet the numbers involved are staggering—a recent survey suggests that 640 million adults worldwide would like to migrate, principally to North America and Western Europe. This raises serious concerns about the cultural and financial implications, and hence about the political viability, of proposals that would permit sizable inflows. These constraints explain the appeal of Paul Romer’s much-discussed proposal to create charter cities—that is, “model” cities featuring economic and social institutions conducive to growth and development that are open to all willing to

中文翻译：

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特许城市合法吗？

贫困和不发达是我们这个时代最紧迫的问题之一。有观点认为，仅靠财富和知识的转移并不能解决这些问题——还必须建立能够刺激增长和发展的政治和法律制度。但是，如何在世界上最不发达的地区建立这样的机构，那里的政权往往是“榨取式的”并且不想看到变革？正如中东最近发生的事件所表明的那样，革命是艰难的，而且常常伴随着不稳定和暴力。那些生活在压迫政权下的人也不能轻易搬到更理想的地方，因为前往美国和欧洲的非法移民的艰辛每天都在提醒我们。要求发达国家允许更多的移民流入是完全合理的，尤其是以客工计划的形式。然而，所涉及的数字是惊人的——最近的一项调查表明，全世界有 6.4 亿成年人愿意迁移，主要是到北美和西欧。这引起了人们对允许大量资金流入的提案的文化和财务影响以及政治可行性的严重关切。这些限制因素解释了保罗·罗默 (Paul Romer) 广受讨论的创建特许城市提案的吸引力——即“模范”城市，其特点是经济和社会制度有利于增长和发展，对所有愿意的人开放 这引起了人们对允许大量资金流入的提案的文化和财务影响以及政治可行性的严重关切。这些限制解释了保罗·罗默 (Paul Romer) 广受讨论的创建特许城市提案的吸引力——即“模范”城市，其特点是经济和社会制度有利于增长和发展，对所有愿意参与的人开放 这引起了人们对允许大量资金流入的提案的文化和财务影响以及政治可行性的严重关切。这些限制解释了保罗·罗默 (Paul Romer) 广受讨论的创建特许城市提案的吸引力——即“模范”城市，其特点是经济和社会制度有利于增长和发展，对所有愿意参与的人开放