The Flaws in Rent Ceilings

This week on Cato’s Podcast, I sat down with Jeff Miron to talk through the proposed Massachusetts rent control ballot initiative, as a hook to discussing the economics of rent control more generally. In the episode, we discuss how rent control affects the supply of rental accommodation, housing and apartment quality, tax revenue, and allocation, as well as reviewing rent control as a means of redistribution. Towards the end, we also review some of the political economy considerations around rent control and debate why economists are so much more hostile to it than, say, the minimum wage.