They say they make companies more efficient through savvy management.Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Chad Syverson, professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Ivan Rupnik, professor of architecture at Northeastern University. Michael Hough, director of MJH Structural Engineers. Ed Glaeser, professor of economics and chair the economics department at Harvard University. Carrie Sturts Dossick, professor of construction management at the University of Washington. SOURCES: Vaughan Buckley, founder and C.E.O. 'Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive?' by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

EXTRAS: 'Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away,' by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021). 'A Decent Home,' report by the President's Committee on Urban Housing (1968). 'The Silicon Valley Elite Who Want to Build a City From Scratch,' by Conor Dougherty and Erin Griffith (The New York Times, 2023). Liscow (American Economic Journal: Applied, 2023). 'Infrastructure Costs,' by Leah Brooks and Zachary D. 'prefab'?) RESOURCES: 'The Strange and Awful Path of Productivity in the US Construction Sector,' by Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson (BFI Working Paper, 2023). But not construction! We identify the causes - and possible solutions.

Most industries have become more productive over time.

Why Is It So Hard (and Expensive) to Build Anything in America? 'Parking Is Hell,' by Freakonomics Radio (2013). 'The Perfect Crime,' by Freakonomics Radio (2014). 'Should Traffic Lights Be Abolished?' by Freakonomics Radio (2021). 'Should Public Transit Be Free?' by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

So Good at Killing Pedestrians?' by Freakonomics Radio (2023). 'Fare, Free, or Something in Between?' by Jennifer S. 'The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility: Childhood Exposure Effects and County-Level Estimates,' by Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren (NBER Working Paper, 2015). Traffic Power Structure, by Planka.nu (2016). 'Forget Fare Hikes - Make the T Free,' by Michelle Wu (The Boston Globe, 2019). 'Route-28 Fare-Free Pilot Evaluation: Summary Findings,' by the City of Boston Transportation (2022). Taylor, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Andrew Schouten (Transportation, 2023). 'Vehicle Access and Falling Transit Ridership: Evidence From Southern California,' by Michael Manville, Brian D. RESOURCES: 'Free Bus Service Starts Sunday on 5 Routes in New York City,' by Ana Ley (The New York Times, 2023). Shashi Verma, director of strategy and C.T.O. Brian Taylor, professor of urban planning and public policy and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at U.C.L.A. of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. Robbie Makinen, former president and C.E.O. SOURCES: Marcus Finbom, traffic planner in Stockholm, Sweden. Also: We talk to the man who gets half the nation's mass-transit riders where they want to go (most of the time). So why do we charge people to use it? The short answer: it's complicated. It boosts economic opportunity and social mobility.

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