ch06 10电子讲座在市场中行动能否限制租金以帮助租房者通过提高低工资法来.pdfVIP

A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling A price ceiling or price cap is a regulation that makes it illegal to charge a price higher than a specified level. When a price ceiling is applied to a housing market it is called a rent ceiling. If the rent ceiling is set above the equilibrium rent, it has no effect. The market works as if there were no ceiling. But if the rent ceiling is set below the equilibrium rent, it has powerful effects. A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling Housing Shortage Figure 6.1 shows the effects of a rent ceiling that is set below the equilibrium rent. The equilibrium rent is $1,000 a month. A rent ceiling is set at $800 a month. So the equilibrium rent is in the illegal region. A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling At the rent ceiling, the ty of housing demanded exceeds the ty d. There is a shortage of housing. A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling Because the legal price canno iminate the shortage, other mechanisms operate: ▪ reased search activity ▪A black market With the shortage, someone is willing to pay up to $1,200 a month. A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling reased Search Activity The time spent looking for someone with whom to do business is called search activity. When a price is regulated and there is a shortage, search activity reases. Search activity is costly and the opportunity cost of housing equals its rent (regulated) plus the opportunity cost of the search activity (unregulated). Because the ty of housing is less than the ty in an unregulated market, the opportunity cost of housing exceeds the unregulated rent. A Housing Market with a Rent Ceiling A Black Market A black market is an illegal market that operates alongside a legal market in which a price ceiling or other restriction has been imposed. A shortage of housing creates a black market in housin