Over the past few years, prices and rents for flats went up in most German cities. This trend is expected to continue in 2013. Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Frankfurt am Main will still see the highest increases in property prices and rents. In these cities, housing prices are rising much faster...

Following World War I, rent control became a standard policy response to the housing shortage and the resulting rent increases. Typically, economists blame it for creating inefficiencies in the housing market and beyond. We investigate whether rental market regulations (including rent control,...

This paper studies market segmentation that arises from the introduction of a price ceiling in the market for rental housing. When part of the market faces rent control, theory predicts an increase of free-market rents, a consequence of misallocation of households to housing units. We study a...

In this paper, we make multi-step forecasts of the annual growth rates of the real Gross Regional Product (GRP) for each of the 31 Chinese provinces simultaneously. Beside the usual panel data models, we use panel models that explicitly account for spatial dependence between the GRP growth...

The (re-)introduction of rent regulation in the form of rent controls, tenant protection or supply rationing is back on the agenda of policymakers in light of rent inflation in many global cities. While rent control as social policy promises short-term relief, economists point to their negative...

Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline (MARS) is a simple and powerful non-parametric technique that automatizes the selection of non-linear terms in regression models. Non-linearities and spatial effects are natural characteristics in numerous spatial hedonic pricing models. In this paper, we...

The long-run U-shaped patterns of economic inequality are standardly explained by basic economic trends (Piketty's rg), taxation policies, or 'great levelers,' like catastrophes. This paper argues that housing policy, in particular rent control, is a neglected explanatory factor in understanding...

In 2020, Berlin enacted a rigorous rent-control policy: the 'Mietendeckel' (rent freeze), aiming to stop rapidly growing rental prices. We evaluate this newly enacted but old-fashionably designed policy by analyzing its immediate supply-side effects. Using a rich pool of rent advertisements...

[Einleitung] Das Produktionspotenzial ist eine zentrale Kenngröße für die mittelfristige Finanzplanung der Länder in der Europäischen Union. Sie beeinflusst sowohl die Steuerschätzung als auch den gemäß Europäischer Fiskalregeln festgelegten Finanzierungs- und Gestaltungsspielraum der...