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Price Control Research Paper

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Use economic theory and supporting material to discuss whether house rents in big cities should be regulated and if a price limit to rents would be beneficial

The issue of introducing regulations and limits to the prices at which rents are set has been long debated by economists and policymakers. Morally considered, price caps and rent regulation seem an effective strategy in allowing lower to middle income families and individuals rent out a home, however, economists generally believe that such regulations negatively impact the housing market and the supply of housing. In this essay, the issue of price regulations within the housing market will be discussed from a microeconomic standpoint, with brief acknowledgement to the social effects …show more content…

With these circumstances, it is hard to see how price capping would alleviate the supply gap in rental properties, even with external factors such as land-use regulations playing a part in keeping rent prices high; capping any sort of price increases in rent simply gives landlords an impetus to sell property that they may have instead rented out to homeowners. This suggests that price caps prove little help in alleviating issues in rental property supply for those who need it.
From a historical standpoint, rent control has had few positive effects, particularly for Britain, who has frequently experimented with such endeavours. Rent control was introduced in 1915 for wartime Britain, far from a temporary solution, rent control of some form existed until the 1990s. The Rent Act of 1939 reintroduced full rent control, likely in anticipation for World War 2, for practically all rented housing regardless of circumstance. The 1939 act largely made it so that tenants of rented property could not legally be required to vacate their rented property, this left almost every landlord with practically no volition to maintain their properties given the lack of competition. Furthermore, tenants had basically no incentive to leave their properties on their own accord due to the very low prices of rent, even when family and economic situations may have otherwise pushed said families to relocate. There were

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