“Another example is the rent controls that many nations imposed during and after World War II. Most have since removed their rent controls, but certain cities like New York have kept them, although in a modified form. Most serious studies of the effects of rent controls in NY and elsewhere show that they speed up the deterioration of housing quality, they cause an inefficient allocation of the limited housing stock, and usually they harm rather than benefit the poor and the young who more frequently have to find housing in the rental market. Rent controls generally benefit middle class and older renters who often stay in large apartments at ridiculously low rents because it is too expensive to move to smaller apartments available on the open market”. –Gary Becker, Nobel Prize Winning economist discussing the economics of ‘price gouging’ over at the Becker Posner blog