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The Home Front: Rent Control and the Rapid Wartime Increase in Home Ownership

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  • Fetter, Daniel K.

Abstract

The U.S. home ownership rate rose by 10 percentage points between 1940 and 1945, despite severe restrictions on construction during World War II. I investigate whether wartime rent control played a role in this shift. The empirical test exploits variation in rent reductions across cities that had similar increases in rents prior to control. This variation does not appear to be correlated with underlying trends also driving home ownership. Greater initial rent reductions led to larger increases in home ownership; rent control can account for a significant share of the increase in home ownership over the early 1940s.

Suggested Citation

  • Fetter, Daniel K., 2016. "The Home Front: Rent Control and the Rapid Wartime Increase in Home Ownership," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 1001-1043, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:76:y:2016:i:04:p:1001-1043_00
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Rent control and home ownership
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2013-11-29 21:48:00

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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Carola Frydman & Raven Molloy, 2024. "A Real Great Compression: Inflation and Inequality in the 1940s," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic History of American Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives, pages 45-84, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Price V. Fishback & Andrew J. Seltzer, 2021. "The Rise of American Minimum Wages, 1912–1968," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 73-96, Winter.
    4. Stephen Malpezzi, 2021. "Housing “Affordability” and Responses During Times of Stress: A Brief Global Review," GRU Working Paper Series GRU_2021_011, City University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics and Finance, Global Research Unit.
    5. Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2025. "The Impact of Governmental Regulations on Housing Market: Findings of a Meta-Study of Empirical Literature," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2113, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Stephen Malpezzi, 2023. "Housing affordability and responses during times of stress: A preliminary look during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(1), pages 9-40, January.
    7. David H. Autor & Christopher J. Palmer & Parag A. Pathak, 2014. "Housing Market Spillovers: Evidence from the End of Rent Control in Cambridge, Massachusetts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 661-717.
    8. Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2022. "Rent Control Effects through the Lens of Empirical Research," DIW Roundup: Politik im Fokus 139, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Sebastian Kohl, 2016. "Urban History Matters: Explaining the German--American Homeownership Gap," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 694-713, September.
    10. Brunet, Gillian & Hilt, Eric & Jaremski, Matthew, 2025. "War bonds and household saving in WWII," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Joan Monràs & José Garcia Montalvo, 2021. "The effect of second generation rent controls: New evidence from Catalonia," Economics Working Papers 1836, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Apr 2022.
    12. Tetsuji OKAZAKI, 2025. "Wartime Financial Control and Allocation of Capital: The Case of Japan during World War II," CIGS Working Paper Series 25-007E, The Canon Institute for Global Studies.
    13. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1839 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Ronan C. Lyons & Allison Shertzer & Rowena Gray & David N. Agorastos, 2024. "The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890-2006," NBER Working Papers 32593, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Stacy, Christina & Hodge, Timothy R. & Komarek, Timothy M. & Davis, Christopher & Stern, Alena & Noble, Owen & Morales-Burnett, Jorge & Rogin, Amy, 2025. "Rent control and the supply of affordable housing," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Gandhi, Sahil & Green, Richard K. & Patranabis, Shaonlee, 2022. "Insecure property rights and the housing market: Explaining India’s housing vacancy paradox," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    17. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp1927 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Ronan Lyons & Maximilian Guennewig-Moenert, 2024. "Judge for Yourself? The Impact of Controls on Rents in Interwar New York," Trinity Economics Papers tep0924, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    19. William J. Collins & Gregory T. Niemesh, 2024. "Income Gains and the Geography of the US Home Ownership Boom, 1940 to 1960," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic History of American Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives, pages 87-121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Olsen, Edgar O. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2015. "US Housing Policy," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 887-986, Elsevier.
    21. Breidenbach, Philipp & Eilers, Lea & Fries, Jan, 2022. "Temporal dynamics of rent regulations – The case of the German rent control," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    22. Konstantin Kholodilin & Sebastian Kohl, 2019. "Verdrängung oder Sozialpolitik? Einfluss von Regulierungen auf die Wohneigentumsquote [Social Policy or Crowding-out? The Effect of Private-tenancy Regulation on Homeownership]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 99(5), pages 363-366, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • N42 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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