An opinion piece in CityLab reiterates the body of research showing evidence that rent control is not an effective tool in reducing housing costs.
According to an article by Nolan Gray and Adam A. Millsap, activists in states like Illinois, Colorado, and Oregon are pushing for rent control restrictions like those just rejected by California voters. The issues raised by Prop 10 in California, according to Gray and Millsap, are likely to repeat "again and again in cities and states across the country."
The potential for future political battles over rent control compels the two to present the case against rent control, as settled on by a "cross-ideological consensus...opposing the policy."
"It was Assar Lindbeck, a noted socialist economist, who famously said 'Next to bombing, rent control seems in many cases to be the most efficient technique so far known for destroying cities.' What did Lindbeck understand that current advocates don’t?" Gray and Millsap answer that question in the source article.
FULL STORY: Voters Said No in California, but Other States Have Rent Control Battles Looming
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