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A Critique of the Legal and Philosophical Case for Rent Control

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Abstract

Rent control is an economic abomination. It diverts investments away from residential rent units, it leads to their deterioration, it is responsible for urban decay such as in the South Bronx, it does not help poor tenants, it is a horrendous means of income redistribution. Yet this economic regulation is beloved of intellectuals (hot beds of pro rent control sentiment are Berkeley, Ann Arbor and Cambridge) particularly in the legal and philosophical communities. The present article is dedicated to an exploration and rejection of the arguments in behalf of rent control which emanate from this source.

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  1. College of Business Administration, Loyola University New Orleans, 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 15, Miller 321, New Orleans, LA, 70118, U.S.A.

    Walter Block

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Block, W. A Critique of the Legal and Philosophical Case for Rent Control. Journal of Business Ethics 40, 75–90 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019952703506

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