Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students will learn to evaluate and analyze the effectiveness and unintended consequences of price controls. Price controls are government policies that aim to regulate the prices of goods and services. The best‐known type of price control is rent control, which is a policy that limits the amount landlords can charge for rent. Despite the good intentions of rent control (intending to make housing more affordable for low‐income renters), it has many unintended consequences. One unintended consequence is that it can lead to a shortage of rental housing. Another is that landlords may be less inclined to build or maintain rental properties if they cannot charge market prices for rent.