IEA Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz has written for CapX making the case against rent controls after new calls for a cap in England and Wales.

Kristian wrote:

“The issue with rent controls is not that they are novel or radical. The issue with them is just that every time they are tried, the results are exactly what the Economics 101 textbook would predict.

“The Journal of Housing Economics has recently published a meta-study on rent controls – a literature review of all the empirical studies on the effects of rent controls that have been conducted over the past fifty-odd years:

• Out of 16 studies that concentrate specifically on the impact on supply, 12 studies find a negative one. 


• Out of 16 studies that concentrate specifically on the impact on housing construction, 11 find a negative one.

“This is about as consistent as it can realistically get in economics.”

Read Kristian’s full piece here.

You can also read Kristian’s 2016 paper critiquing rent controls and his 2024 publication on how the UK can solve its housing crisis.