Economists Reject Biden-Harris Rent Control Plan
New survey data from Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets
We recently examined a damning meta-analysis of the effects of rent control laws. Last week, we warned that Joe Biden’s proposal to cap rent increases of corporate landlords at 5 percent per year would have some of these deleterious consequences.
Well, a new survey for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets confirms this is all received wisdom among academics. We don’t need to analyze the results in detail here because the aggregated responses of the 45 economists are crystal clear in their conclusions. Economists overwhelmingly think the Biden-Harris plan wouldn’t make Americans better off or reduce inequality, but would substantially reduce the supply of properties available for rent.
There’s a great chapter on the economics of rent control in The War on Prices that explores these issues in more detail.
Based on the 3 survey questions listed, any findings are weak at best. Surveys asked whether the 5% cap would cause *substantial* improvements. Since caps impact a small percentage of rental units across the country, a substantial improvement would require caps to have a gigantic impact. Perhaps the study included more direct questions, such as what the impact of a cap would be [on a topic A, B or C] ranging from much worse to much better.
Harris should drop that along with a lot of the other baggage from the Biden administration.