IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/upf/upfgen/1836.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effect of second generation rent controls: New evidence from Catalonia

Author

Abstract

Catalonia enacted a second-generation rental cap policy in late September 2020. The policy affected some municipalities but not others, and within those, only the units above a certain reference price. Using micro-data on rental units, we analyze the effect of the policy on both rental prices and rental supply. We find that the policy led to a reduction in rental prices of around 5 percent. Half of this price decline is due to changes in the composition of units available in the market, particularly in larger municipalities. The policy also led to a decline in the amount of rental units available in the market. Using variation from the policy change, we compute a rental housing supply elasticity of around 4.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econ-papers.upf.edu/papers/1836.pdf
    File Function: Whole Paper
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Jeremy Bulow & Paul Klemperer, 2012. "Regulated Prices, Rent Seeking, and Consumer Surplus," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(1), pages 160-186.
    3. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Montalvo, Jose G, 1997. "GMM Estimation of Count-Panel-Data Models with Fixed Effects and Predetermined Instruments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 15(1), pages 82-89, January.
    6. Edward L. Glaeser & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2003. "The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1027-1046, September.
    7. Moon, Choon-Geol & Stotsky, Janet G, 1993. "The Effect of Rent Control on Housing Quality Change: A Longitudinal Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 1114-1148, December.
    8. Richard Arnott, 1995. "Time for Revisionism on Rent Control?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 99-120, Winter.
    9. Suen, Wing, 1989. "Rationing and Rent Dissipation in the Presence of Heterogeneous Individuals," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1384-1394, December.
    10. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    11. Mense, Andreas & Michelsen, Claus & Cholodilin, Konstantin, 2019. "Rent control, market segmentation, and misallocation: Causal evidence from a large-scale policy intervention," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 06/2019, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    12. Rebecca Diamond & Tim McQuade & Franklin Qian, 2019. "The Effects of Rent Control Expansion on Tenants, Landlords, and Inequality: Evidence from San Francisco," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(9), pages 3365-3394, September.
    13. Gyourko, Joseph & Linneman, Peter, 1989. "Equity and efficiency aspects of rent control: An empirical study of New York City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 54-74, July.
    14. Olsen, Edgar O, 1972. "An Econometric Analysis of Rent Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(6), pages 1081-1100, Nov.-Dec..
    15. 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).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jofre-Monseny, Jordi & Martínez-Mazza, Rodrigo & Segú, Mariona, 2023. "Effectiveness and supply effects of high-coverage rent control policies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joan Monras & Jose G. Montalvo, 2023. "The Effect of Second-Generation Rent Controls: New Evidence from Catalonia," Working Paper Series 2023-28, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    2. Miguel-Ángel López García, 2023. "Controles de alquileres," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 246(3), pages 165-206, September.
    3. Ligia Topan & Miguel Jerez & Sonia Sotoca, 2020. "The impact of oil prices on products groups inflation: is the effect asymmetric?," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2020-02, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    4. 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).
    5. Christian A. L. Hilber & Olivier Schoni, 2022. "Housing policy and affordable housing," CEP Occasional Papers 56, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Coffey, Cathal & Hogan, Paul J. & McQuinn, Kieran & O'Toole, Conor & Slaymaker, Rachel, 2022. "Rental inflation and stabilisation policies: international evidence and the Irish experience," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS136, June.
    7. Zheng, Diehang & Deng, Yongheng & Gordon, Peter & Dale-Johnson, David, 2007. "An examination of the impact of rent control on mobile home prices in California," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 209-242, June.
    8. Enström Öst, Cecilia & Johansson, Per, 2023. "The consequences of the Swedish rent control system on labor income: Evidence from a randomized apartment lottery," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Edward L. Glaeser & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2003. "The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1027-1046, September.
    11. 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.
    12. Chang Yang-Ming & Sanders Shane D., 2010. "The Welfare Implications of Rent Control: A Rent-Seeking Contest Approach," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, October.
    13. Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2022. "Rent Control Effects through the Lens of Empirical Research: An almost Complete Review of the Literature," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2026, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Shing-Yi Wang, 2011. "State Misallocation and Housing Prices: Theory and Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2081-2107, August.
    15. Mense, Andreas & Michelsen, Claus & Kholodilin, Konstantin A., 2023. "Rent Control, Market Segmentation, and Misallocation: Causal Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Intervention," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Chen, Ruoyu & Jiang, Hanchen & Quintero, Luis E., 2022. "Measuring the Value of Rent Stabilization and Understanding its Implications for Racial Inequality: Evidence from New York City," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1102, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Blair Jenkins, 2009. "Rent Control: Do Economists Agree?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 6(1), pages 73-112, January.
    18. Rebecca Diamond & Tim McQuade & Franklin Qian, 2019. "The Effects of Rent Control Expansion on Tenants, Landlords, and Inequality: Evidence from San Francisco," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(9), pages 3365-3394, September.
    19. Goeyvaerts, Geert, 2023. "Reconstructing cities: Stimulating redevelopment through the tax code," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Breidenbach, Philipp & Eilers, Lea & Fries, Jan Ludwig, 2019. "Rent control and rental prices: High expectations, high effectiveness?," Working Papers 07/2018, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rent control; reference price; housing supply; event study;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1836. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econ.upf.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.