The Flaws of Rent Ceilings

Massachusetts is weighing a ballot initiative that would cap rent increases at the rate of inflation with no vacancy decontrol, one of the most stringent rent control regimes proposed in the country. Cato's Ryan Bourne and Jeff Miron walk through why economists are nearly unanimous in opposing rent control: it shrinks rental supply, degrades housing quality, and tends to benefit longer-term, higher-income tenants rather than the low-income renters it claims to help. As Cambridge's own history shows, the policy doesn't just fail to solve the affordability problem; it actively makes it worse. We want to hear from you! Please share your thoughts in a 3-minute anonymous survey to help us refine our programming at Cato.org/PodcastSurvey . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The Flaws of Rent Ceilings is an episode from Cato Daily Podcast by Cato Institute.

This episode is 42:07 long.

This episode was published on Mar 26, 2026.

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