Keeping it real on rent regulation.(Viewpoint)(Column)

Crain's New York Business, October, 2006 by David, Greg

Byline: Greg David In 2000, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman segued from his usual commentary on national politics to tackle an issue dear to the hearts of New Yorkers: government regulation of rents. "Rent control,'' he wrote, "is among the best-understood issues in all of economics.

... In 1992 a poll of the American Economic Association found 93% of its members agreeing that `a ceiling on rents reduces the quality and quantity of housing.' Almost every freshman-level textbook contains a case study on rent control, using its known adverse side effects to illustrate the principles of supply and demand. "Sky-high rents on uncontrolled apartments, because desperate renters have nowhere to go--and the absence of new apartment construction, despite...