IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v48y2015icp237-247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Welfare effects of rent control — A comparison of redistributive policies

Author

Listed:
  • Micheli, Martin
  • Schmidt, Torsten

Abstract

In this paper we compare the welfare effects of rent control, linking properties' rental prices to purchase prices, to the most standard redistribution policy, an increase in tax financed transfers to the less wealthy. We calibrate a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, which differ with respect to their time preference, to fit key characteristics of the German economy. This way, we show that the introduction of rent control Pareto dominates tax financed transfer payments in steady state.

Suggested Citation

  • Micheli, Martin & Schmidt, Torsten, 2015. "Welfare effects of rent control — A comparison of redistributive policies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 237-247.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:48:y:2015:i:c:p:237-247
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2014.11.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999314004635
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2014.11.023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eva Ortega & Margarita Rubio & Carlos Thomas, 2011. "House purchase versus rental in Spain," Working Papers 1108, Banco de España.
    2. Franz Hubert, 1993. "The Impact of Rent Control on Rents in the Free Sector," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 30(1), pages 51-61, February.
    3. Antonia Díaz & María José Luengo-Prado, 2010. "The Wealth Distribution With Durable Goods," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(1), pages 143-170, February.
    4. W. A. V. Clark & Allan D. Heskin, 1982. "The Impact of Rent Control on Tenure Discounts and Residential Mobility," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(1), pages 109-117.
    5. Ault Richard W. & Jackson John D. & Saba Richard P., 1994. "The Effect of Long-Term Rent Control on Tenant Mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 140-158, March.
    6. Alexeev, Michael V, 1988. "Market vs. Rationing: The Case of Soviet Housing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(3), pages 414-420, August.
    7. Edward L. Glaeser & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2003. "The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1027-1046, September.
    8. Morten Skak & Gintautas Bloze, 2013. "Rent Control and Misallocation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(10), pages 1988-2005, August.
    9. João Miguel Ejarque & Joachim Borg Kristensen, 2013. "Rent Control and the Housing Expenditure Share," CAM Working Papers 2013-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    10. Fatih Guvenen, 2011. "Macroeconomics with hetereogeneity : a practical guide," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 97(3Q), pages 255-326.
    11. Matteo Iacoviello & Stefano Neri, 2010. "Housing Market Spillovers: Evidence from an Estimated DSGE Model," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 125-164, April.
    12. Michel Juillard, 2001. "DYNARE: A program for the simulation of rational expectation models," Computing in Economics and Finance 2001 213, Society for Computational Economics.
    13. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    14. Gyourko, Joseph & Linneman, Peter, 1989. "Equity and efficiency aspects of rent control: An empirical study of New York City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 54-74, July.
    15. Painter, Gary, 1997. "Does Variation in Public Housing Waiting Lists Induce Intra-Urban Mobility?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 248-276, September.
    16. Arnott, Richard & Igarashi, Masahiro, 2000. "Rent control, mismatch costs and search efficiency," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 249-288, May.
    17. Richard Arnott, 1995. "Time for Revisionism on Rent Control?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 99-120, Winter.
    18. Alston, Richard M & Kearl, J R & Vaughan, Michael B, 1992. "Is There a Consensus among Economists in the 1990's?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 203-209, May.
    19. Edward L. Glaeser, 1996. "The Social Costs of Rent Control Revisted," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1747, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    20. Munch, Jakob Roland & Svarer, Michael, 2002. "Rent control and tenancy duration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 542-560, November.
    21. George Fallis & Lawrence B. Smith, 1985. "Price Effects of Rent Control on Controlled and Uncontrolled Rental Housing in Toronto: A Hedonic Index Approach," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 18(3), pages 652-659, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomschke, Lorenz, 2016. "Distributional price effects of rent controls in Berlin: When expectation meets reality," CAWM Discussion Papers 89, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    2. Miguel-Ángel López García, 2023. "Controles de alquileres," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 246(3), pages 165-206, September.
    3. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2015. "Price limits and corporate investment: The consumers' perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 168-178.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blair Jenkins, 2009. "Rent Control: Do Economists Agree?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 6(1), pages 73-112, January.
    2. Kholodilin, Konstantin A., 2024. "Rent control effects through the lens of empirical research: An almost complete review of the literature," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Are Oust, 2018. "The end of Oslo's rent control: Impact on rent level," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(1), pages 443-458.
    4. Ralph Bradburd & Stephen Sheppard & Joseph Bergeron & Eric Engler, 2006. "The Impact Of Rent Controls In Non‐Walrasian Markets: An Agent‐Based Modeling Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 455-491, August.
    5. Mark A. C. Kattenberg & Wolter H. J. Hassink, 2017. "Who Moves Out of Social Housing? The Effect of Rent Control on Housing Tenure Choice," De Economist, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 43-66, March.
    6. Miguel-Ángel López García, 2023. "Controles de alquileres," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 246(3), pages 165-206, September.
    7. Krol, Robert & Svorny, Shirley, 2005. "The effect of rent control on commute times," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 421-436, November.
    8. Munch, Jakob Roland & Svarer, Michael, 2002. "Rent control and tenancy duration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 542-560, November.
    9. Chen, Ruoyu & Jiang, Hanchen & Quintero, Luis E., 2023. "Measuring the value of rent stabilization and understanding its implications for racial inequality: Evidence from New York City," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    10. Zheng, Diehang & Deng, Yongheng & Gordon, Peter & Dale-Johnson, David, 2007. "An examination of the impact of rent control on mobile home prices in California," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 209-242, June.
    11. Morten Skak & Gintautas Bloze, 2013. "Rent Control and Misallocation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(10), pages 1988-2005, August.
    12. Mense, Andreas & Michelsen, Claus & Kholodilin, Konstantin A., 2023. "Rent Control, Market Segmentation, and Misallocation: Causal Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Intervention," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    13. le Blanc, David & Laferrere, Anne, 2001. "The Effect of Public Social Housing on Households' Consumption in France," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 429-455, December.
    14. Ligia Topan & Miguel Jerez & Sonia Sotoca, 2020. "The impact of oil prices on products groups inflation: is the effect asymmetric?," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2020-02, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    15. Mense, Andreas & Michelsen, Claus & Cholodilin, Konstantin A., 2017. "Empirics on the causal effects of rent control in Germany," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 24/2017, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    16. Enström Öst, Cecilia & Söderberg, Bo & Wilhelmsson, Mats, 2014. "Household allocation and spatial distribution in a market under (“soft”) rent control," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 353-372.
    17. Konstantin A. Kholodilin & Julien Licheron, 2017. "Macroeconomic Effects of Rental Housing Regulations: The Case of Germany in 1950-2015," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1649, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Alessio Sardo & Gianluca Cerruti & Arnulfo Daniel Mateos Durán & Allegra Grillo, 2024. "The judicial response to rent controls in Europe: Protecting property rights against state’s intervention?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 221-281, October.
    19. Sims David P, 2011. "Rent Control Rationing and Community Composition: Evidence from Massachusetts," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-30, May.
    20. Svarer, Michael & Rosholm, Michael & Munch, Jakob Roland, 2005. "Rent control and unemployment duration," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2165-2181, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:48:y:2015:i:c:p:237-247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.