THE SOURCES OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT: WAGES, HOUSING, AND AMENITY GAPS ACROSS AMERICAN CITIES*
利用1980年和2000年美国城市工人的微观数据，发现工人效用（工资、租金和便利设施）在城市间并未均等化，大城市提供更高的实际工资和更多便利设施，但人口增长与效用水平无关，表明其他力量在塑造城市发展。
ABSTRACT This paper asks whether worker utility levels—composed of wages, rents, and amenities—are being equalized among American cities. Using microdata on U.S. urban workers in 1980 and 2000, little evidence of equalization is found. Comparable workers earn higher real wages in large cities, where amenities are also concentrated. Moreover, population growth between 1980 and 2000 has not been significantly different in low‐ and high‐utility cities, suggesting that other forces are at work shaping the sorting processes that match workers and firms. We outline an alternative view of the drivers of change in the American urban system, and urban development more generally, by applying theory from economic geography.