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Rent Control, Mismatch Costs And Search Efficiency

Author

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  • Masahiro Igarashi

    (UNCTAD/ECDC)

  • Richard Arnott

    (Depatment of Economics Boston College)

Abstract

In the discursive literature on rent control, it has been argued that rent controls cause the rental housing market to become "tighter" -- the vacancy rate falls, search costs rise, and tenants become less well-matched with housing units-but at the same time restrict landlords’ ability to exploit their market power in setting rents. Such phenomena are excluded by assumption in competitive models of the renting housing market. This paper applies a monopolistically competitive model of the rental housing market developed by Igarashi to explore these events. In the model, moderate rent controls are welfare-improving, but severe controls are harmful.

Suggested Citation

  • Masahiro Igarashi & Richard Arnott, 1993. "Rent Control, Mismatch Costs And Search Efficiency," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 214, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:214
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sweeney, James L., 1974. "A commodity hierarchy model of the rental housing market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 288-323, July.
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    3. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    4. Arnott, Richard, 1989. "Housing Vacancies, Thin Markets, and Idiosyncratic Tastes," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 5-30, February.
    5. Anderson, Simon P & de Palma, Andre & Nesterov, Yurii, 1995. "Oligopolistic Competition and the Optimal Provision of Products," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(6), pages 1281-1301, November.
    6. Anas, Alex, 1997. "Rent Control with Matching Economies: A Model of European Housing Market Regulation," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 111-137, July.
    7. Wheaton, William C, 1990. "Vacancy, Search, and Prices in a Housing Market Matching Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1270-1292, December.
    8. Arthur J. Hosios, 1990. "On The Efficiency of Matching and Related Models of Search and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(2), pages 279-298.
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