Is Paris a big city? It depends on whom you ask. A tourist with only a few days to take in its sights will probably find it dauntingly(令人望而生畏地) large. To the French it occasionally feels smothering(令人窒息的), the bloated(臃肿的) administrative headquarters of an over-centralised country. But after 20-odd centuries of existence, the Ville Lumière(光之城（巴黎的别称）) has a distinction besides that of top tourist destination or national capital: it is by some distance(远远地，大幅度地) the European Union’s largest city, a metropolitan standard-bearer(旗手，标杆) for a largely urbanised continent. And seen through that lens it starts looking rather…petite(娇小的). With one-third the population of Shanghai and less than half the economic output of New York, Paris makes an underwhelming urban flagship for a union of 450m people.(巴黎人口仅为上海的三分之一，经济产出不到纽约的一半，对于一个拥有4.5亿人口的联盟来说，它作为城市旗舰实在不够看。) Europe has perfected the art of making cityscapes pleasant. Making them mighty engines of economic dynamism is another matter(另一回事).
巴黎算大城市吗？这取决于你问谁。只有几天时间观光的游客，多半会觉得它大得令人望而生畏。在法国人眼里，它有时又令人窒息——一个过度中央集权国家臃肿的行政中心。但存在了二十多个世纪之后，这座“光之城”除了顶级旅游目的地和首都之外，还有另一重特殊地位：它是欧盟当之无愧的最大城市，是这片高度城市化大陆上大都市的标杆。然而从这个角度看，它开始显得相当……娇小。人口仅为上海的三分之一，经济产出不到纽约的一半，对于一个拥有4.5亿人口的联盟来说，巴黎作为城市旗舰实在不够看。欧洲把城市景观打造得赏心悦目，堪称炉火纯青。但要让城市成为经济活力的强大引擎，则是另一回事。
Europe’s cities are a wonder to behold(令人叹为观止的奇观). A stroll through Lisbon, Stockholm or Krakow is a fine way to while away(消磨（时间）) an afternoon. The latest ranking of the best places in the world to live, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit(经济学人智库), our sister company, puts Copenhagen and Vienna at the very top. (Indonesia’s Jakarta, the world’s largest city, with a population of 42m, comes in 132nd.) But what they make up for(弥补) in charm Euro-cities often lack in size, and thus commercial heft(分量，影响力). The ten biggest urban areas in America account for(占（比例）) a third of its economic output. In the EU the figure is nearer one-sixth, according to Oxford Economics(牛津经济研究院), a consultancy. Even China and India, with their vast rural hinterland(腹地，内陆)s, have a bigger share of output coming out of their largest cities. Of the 82 urban areas estimated by the UN to have a population of more than 5m people, Paris (in 36th place, with just under 10m people) and Madrid (72nd) are the only ones in the EU that make the cut(入选，达标).
欧洲的城市令人叹为观止。在里斯本、斯德哥尔摩或克拉科夫漫步，是消磨下午时光的绝佳方式。我们姊妹公司经济学人智库最新发布的全球最宜居城市排名中，哥本哈根和维也纳高居榜首。（印度尼西亚的雅加达是全球最大城市，人口4200万，仅排在第132位。）但欧洲城市在魅力上的得分，往往以规模——进而商业分量——的不足为代价。美国十大城市群贡献了全国三分之一的经济产出。根据咨询公司牛津经济研究院的数据，欧盟这一比例接近六分之一。即便拥有广阔农村腹地的中国和印度，其最大城市群的产出占比也更高。在联合国估计的82个人口超过500万的城市群中，巴黎（第36位，人口略低于1000万）和马德里（第72位）是欧盟仅有的两个上榜城市。
Et alors?(那又怎样？（法语）) some might ask. Who would want a Jakarta-sur-Seine, a Tokyo am Rhein? Economists might. For them, when it comes to(谈到，就……而言) cities, bigger nearly always means better. Cramming more humans near each other creates more opportunities to match productive workers with innovative firms. The result is the sort of economic dynamism(活力，动力) Europe desperately needs. Doubling the population of a city is associated with a double-digit growth in productivity, according to the OECD(经合组织), a club of mostly rich countries (even smaller increases make a sizeable difference). In part that is because more productive people will flock(蜂拥而至) to metropolises to seize opportunities. But even accounting for that factor, bigger cities make everyone richer just by making it easier for ideas, skills and opportunities to circulate. World-class amenities, from football stadiums to opera houses, help make up for congestion, high rents and cram(塞满，挤满)ped living conditions.
那又怎样？有人可能会问。谁会想要一个“塞纳河畔的雅加达”或“莱茵河畔的东京”？经济学家可能想要。在他们看来，论及城市，更大几乎总是意味着更好。把更多人聚集在一起，能创造更多机会，让高生产率的工人与创新型企业相互匹配。由此产生的，正是欧洲亟需的那种经济活力。经合组织（一个主要由富裕国家组成的俱乐部）指出，城市人口翻倍与生产率两位数的增长相关（即便增幅更小，也会带来可观差异）。部分原因是，生产率更高的人会涌向大都市抓住机遇。但即便考虑这一因素，更大的城市仅凭让思想、技能和机会更易流通，就能让所有人更富有。从足球场到歌剧院，世界级的便利设施有助于弥补拥堵、高房租和逼仄的居住条件。
Capital punishment
首都的惩罚