Rent Contol: Open-and-Shut Case?

[Brad De Long]

>To return to the original question, Seth, the conventional rent control
>argument that Krugman parrots assumes that new construction will be
>controlled.  But in actually existing schemes like SF and NY, it isn't.

It isn't *now*. But at some point in the future what was to us new 
construction will be old construction, and at some point in the 
future there is some chance that it will be brought under the 
rent-control umbrella...

This has happened how many times in New York City? Twice so far?

Of course, this means that you *can't* solve the problem by removing 
rent control--because there remains a chance that some future 
election will bring in a city council that will reimpose it...

Brad DeLong