Ending Rent Control Reduced Crime in Cambridge
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 381-84)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Using detailed location-specific criminal incident-level data, we find that sudden rent decontrol in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1995 caused overall crime to fall by 16 percent—approximately 1,200 crimes annually. We estimate that this annual direct benefit to Cambridge residents was roughly $10 million (in 2008 dollars), accounting for 10 percent of the growth in the Cambridge residential property values attributable to decontrol.Citation
Autor, David H., Christopher J. Palmer, and Parag A. Pathak. 2019. "Ending Rent Control Reduced Crime in Cambridge." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 381-84. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191022Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- R31 Housing Supply and Markets
- R38 Production Analysis and Firm Location: Government Policy