Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
freakonomics.com
Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
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Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#2This is a good discussion of rent control, even though the title is unfortunately click-baitey.
The great thing about this episode is that it actually does something that most popular discussions of rent control don’t do: it acknowledges that it does work, for the rent controlled people. It also acknowledges that the harms of rent control are smaller, and spread across a large number of people (which is why rent control policies are popular).
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#3Well, economists said similar things before the Great Depression. But market couldn't fix it, so government had to basically redistribute tax money "from rich to poor". Yes, there were mega-projects like Hoover dam, but the main idea was to give poor some money to buy the goods.
I don't have opinion on rent control in question, but I can see it as yet another form of redistributing money "from rich to poor". Every single revolution happened because of income disparity, so I can see it as a form of loosening that tension a bit. Whether it works -- I don't know.
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#4This is a good discussion of rent control, even though the title is unfortunately click-baitey. The great thing about this episode is that it actually does something that most popular discussions of rent control don’t do: it acknowledges that it does work, for the rent controlled people. It also acknowledges that the harms of rent control are smaller, and spread across a large number of people (which is why rent cont…
It does work for those renting. Whether those are who it needs to work for gets greatly distorted as time goes by. The cost is also not widely distributed, but can fall heavily on the property owner.
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#5I lost respect for freakonomics and their analysis a while ago. What I used to find pointed and creative I now see as willfully ignoring elemebts of reality to come to some conclusion that is notable mostly for it's faux-contrarian 'creativity.' they, along with Malcolm Gladwell, some take a complex issue...use complexity to dismiss existing reductivist solutions...and then substitute their own equally reductivist conclusion.
Add in that suddenly after Koch industries became a sponsor of their radio show/podcast they did a total softball interview of one of the Koch brothers with no disclaimer that they were a sponsor
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#6Supply side markets work when they defeat the power of hoarding. Pick any market, and if sitting on the item makes you money in the long term, rather than putting it to use then you have a monopoly problem of some sort.
For a market to work, it must always be the case that using the item to cause some socially useful economic flow to happen is more profitable than sitting on it, or trading your hoard with other hoarders. Ideally you go bust quickly if you sit on it, much as you would with perishable goods.
When you apply that view to housing services you find that the power to exclude is the hoard that needs defeating. Keeping an apartment empty and outside the housing services supply market should be cripplingly expensive.
Ask yourself this. What's the market force that drives rent prices down and is it equivalent in force to that which drives rent prices up? People need housing to live, but housing only needs people if there is a chance of a profit.
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#7I lost respect for freakonomics and their analysis a while ago. What I used to find pointed and creative I now see as willfully ignoring elemebts of reality to come to some conclusion that is notable mostly for it's faux-contrarian 'creativity.' they, along with Malcolm Gladwell, some take a complex issue...use complexity to dismiss existing reductivist solutions...and then substitute their own equally reductivist co…
I enjoyed the Charles Koch interview, sure it wasn't hard-hitting journalism - it was about him and personal philosophy. I hadn't heard about the sponsorship but it turns out that's because it's not true: https://twitter.com/freakonomics/status/938505933508038658?l...
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#8I lost respect for freakonomics and their analysis a while ago. What I used to find pointed and creative I now see as willfully ignoring elemebts of reality to come to some conclusion that is notable mostly for it's faux-contrarian 'creativity.' they, along with Malcolm Gladwell, some take a complex issue...use complexity to dismiss existing reductivist solutions...and then substitute their own equally reductivist co…
Hey @dang -- given that what "avs733" says is completely untrue and it is a lie meant to damage the people behind Freakonomics, can you
1.) Remove this parent post
and
2.) Ban this user for intentionally spreading malicious lies.
Thank you.
https://twitter.com/freakonomics/status/938505933508038658?l...
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#9I lost respect for freakonomics and their analysis a while ago. What I used to find pointed and creative I now see as willfully ignoring elemebts of reality to come to some conclusion that is notable mostly for it's faux-contrarian 'creativity.' they, along with Malcolm Gladwell, some take a complex issue...use complexity to dismiss existing reductivist solutions...and then substitute their own equally reductivist co…
This
> Add in that suddenly after Koch industries became a sponsor of their radio show/podcast they did a total softball interview of one of the Koch brothers with no disclaimer that they were a sponsor
is simply untrue.
https://twitter.com/freakonomics/status/938505933508038658?l...
What's your agenda? Who pays you?
Re: Why Rent Control Doesn't Work
#10Supply side markets work when they defeat the power of hoarding. Pick any market, and if sitting on the item makes you money in the long term, rather than putting it to use then you have a monopoly problem of some sort. For a market to work, it must always be the case that using the item to cause some socially useful economic flow to happen is more profitable than sitting on it, or trading your hoard with other hoard…
Calling it "hoarding" doesn't seem right unless there are both high vacancy rates and strong demand. How often is that the case?