http://marketurbanism.com/2008/10/16/the-moral-case-against-rent-control/ Urbanism for Capitalists / Capitalism for Urbanists Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://marketurbanism.com/2008/10/16/the-moral-case-against-rent-control/#comment-1789 DVA Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:53:43 +0000 http://marketurbanism.com/?p=399#comment-1789 I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there's a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil's advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn't harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it's the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn't deal with.) I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there’s a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil’s advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn’t harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it’s the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn’t deal with.)

]]> http://marketurbanism.com/2008/10/16/the-moral-case-against-rent-control/#comment-8633 DVA Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:53:00 +0000 http://marketurbanism.com/?p=399#comment-8633 I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there's a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil's advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn't harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it's the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn't deal with.) I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there’s a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil’s advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn’t harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it’s the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn’t deal with.)

]]> http://marketurbanism.com/2008/10/16/the-moral-case-against-rent-control/#comment-8634 DVA Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:53:00 +0000 http://marketurbanism.com/?p=399#comment-8634 I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there's a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil's advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn't harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it's the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn't deal with.) I actually find the moral argument much less compelling than the usual economic arguments (i.e. price controls create shortages, and oh look, there’s a chronic shortage of housing here in NYC). To play devil’s advocate here, the easy response to this is that privileges come with responsibilities, and that the privilege of having the government enforce your property rights comes with the responsibility of using those rights in certain ways. In a similar vein, you have a moral right to do as you like with what you own, but only insofar as it doesn’t harm others. This latter argument hinges on one valuing community: the harm referred to is not the end of one particular transaction when someone loses their lease to unaffordable rent increases, it’s the steady erosion of that community as this happens repeatedly. (The destruction of the community, being non-quantifiable, is then an externality that the market doesn’t deal with.)

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