Rent Control: Do Economists Agree?

By Blair Jenkins. From Econ Journal Watch in 2009.

"Abstract 

Rent control is usually introduced to economics students as a price ceiling and an unambiguous source of inefficiency. Early rent controls mirrored price ceilings, but by the late 20th century the majority of controls had developed into complex systems. This paper organizes the judgments of economists regarding the impact of rent controls in the American context. Research is limited to jour- nal articles listed by the american economic association’s electronic bibliogra- phy, econlit, under the subject search “Rent control” performed February 18th, 2008. Articles must also meet the following criteria: the article focuses on rent control policies; data come from U.S. cities; and at least one author must be an economist. An economist is defined as any individual who holds a degree in the field of economics. I focus on the articles generated by the search in EconLit, but also include articles not in the EconLit search, but referenced by articles that are. i have been scrupulous to include any such once-removed articles that go against the main tendency of the literature, and hence assure the reader that my efforts have not accommodated a “picking and choosing” bias on my part. I find that the preponderance of the literature points toward the conclusion that rent con- trol introduces inefficiencies in housing markets. Moreover, the literature on the whole does not sustain any plausible redemption in terms of redistribution. The literature on the whole may be fairly said to show that rent control is bad, yet as of 2001, about 140 jurisdictions persist in some form of the intervention."