Rent Contol: Open-and-Shut Case?

Brad De Long delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Thu Jun 8 13:20:21 PDT 2000



>On Thu, 8 Jun 2000, Brad De Long wrote:
>
>> But it doesn't keep a "lid on rents": it keeps a lid on rents for
>> long-term residents; it raises the effective price of housing for
>> people moving to New York.
>>
>> If you want to privilege long-term inhabitants by giving them rent
>> breaks and raise the price of housing to people migrating into the
>> city, at least be clear in your mind what you are doing...
>
>This is a fair cop -- rent control makes a privileged class out of people
>out of people who got here first, a kind of housing seniority system.
>But that's got nothing to do with Krugman's argument that it causes the
>housing shortage and high rents.
>
>Michael

I think Krugman's argument is that it *would* cause a housing shortage if restrictions on increasing density weren't already causing a housing shortage...

Brad DeLong



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