Rent Control, Market Segmentation, and Misallocation: Causal Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Intervention

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Urban Economics
Year: 2023
Volume: 134
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper studies market segmentation that arises from the introduction of rent control. When a part of the market remains unregulated, theory predicts an increase of free-market rents due to the misallocation of households to dwellings. To document this mechanism empirically, we study a large-scale policy intervention in the German housing market. We isolate the misallocation mechanism by exploiting temporal variation in treatment dates in an event study design. We find a robust positive spillover effect of rent control on free-market rents. Moreover, mobility of renters living in rent-controlled units decreased. [91 words]

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:juecon:v:134:y:2023:i:c:s0094119022000894
Journal Field
Urban
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25