Does rent control really make tenants pro-housing?

Critical comment on ‘Does Rent Control Turn Tenants Into NIMBYs?’ - How does rent regulation affect incumbent resident outlooks on housing growth? Two common intuitions have opposite signs: Maybe rent regulation makes renters more like change-averse homeowners who are partially insulated from the negative consequences of housing underproduction. Alternatively, rent regulation’s partial insulation from housing market forces could make some tenants more risk-tolerant by alleviating fears of amenity-driven hyperlocal displacement attributed to new housing, retail, and job growth. A recent paper on rent regulation in Berlin made headlines in finding some evidence in favor of the pro-housing hypothesis; this blog critiques that finding. The critique may be a bit harsh–one author of the Berlin paper himself already cautioned in The Atlantic “the confidence intervals are really large”--but this informal peer review digs in on precisely why the literature still can’t yet be sure what the net effect of rent regulation is on attitudes toward inclusive growth.