NO TRADITION IS sacred—not even trick-or-treating. In recent Halloween festivities, many Americans switched to trunk-or-treating. Instead of going door-to-door on neighbourhood streets, children shuffled between cars in parking lots and collected candy from their open boots, which were bedecked by giant spiders and terrible ghouls. It was the latest demonstration of something that has long been true: cars have a remarkably tight grip on American life. America is far more car-reliant than any other big country, averaging roughly two vehicles per household. This, in turn, is linked to many ills: obesity, pollution, suburban sprawl and so on.

沒有什麼傳統是神聖不可改變的，就連“不給糖就搗蛋”也不例外。在最近的萬聖節活動中，許多美國人把它改成了“後備箱討糖”。孩子們不再在街區里挨家挨戶地敲門，而是在停車場的汽車之間穿梭，從裝飾着巨型蜘蛛和可怕鬼怪的敞開的後備箱裡收集糖果。這再次反映了長期以來的一個事實：汽車在美國人的生活中擁有驚人的支配力。美國對汽車的依賴遠遠超過任何其他大國，平均每個家庭大約擁有兩輛車。而這又與許多弊病相關聯：肥胖、污染、郊區無序擴張等。

Despite such horrors, more Americans than ever are consigning themselves to a car-defined existence by choosing to live in the suburbs. Census figures reveal that after decades of steady growth, a little more than half the American population is now based in the ‘burbs. It seems a classic case of elite opinions (cars and suburbs are awful) diverging from mass preferences (people quite enjoy them). For many, the main attractions of suburbia are lower housing costs and greater safety. Yet recent research sheds light on how cars are a crucial part of the equation, making America’s suburbs both impressively efficient and equitable.

儘管如此，仍有越來越多的美國人選擇住在郊區，過着高度依賴汽車的生活。人口普查數據顯示，經過幾十年的穩步增長，現在有略多於一半的美國人居住在郊區。這似乎是精英觀點（汽車和郊區糟透了）與大眾偏好（人們很喜歡它們）背道而馳的經典案例。對許多人來說，郊區的主要吸引力是較低的住房成本和更高的安全性。然而，最近的研究揭示了汽車也是一個關鍵因素，它讓美國的郊區實現了非凡的效率與公平。