Do immigrants equally benefit from rent control?

2024/08/16 by Xun Bian, Ruoyu Chen, Hanchen Jiang · 1 voice · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing Market and Economics #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Migration and Labor Dynamics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/1540-6229.12509

openalex publication_date 2024/08/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/11

Abstract

Abstract This study examines how immigrants, often concentrated in urban areas with higher rent burdens, benefit from rent control. We focus on New York City's rent stabilization policy, using data from 2002 to 2017. We find that immigrant tenants are more likely to live in rent‐stabilized units than nonimmigrant tenants. However, conditional on living in rent‐stabilized units, immigrants receive 151 less monthly rent discounts than their nonimmigrant counterparts. This notable immigrant–native gap is economically and statistically significant and robust to various checks. Factors like spatial sorting, tenancy duration, policy awareness, and property characteristics primarily contribute to this disparity.

Citations

• Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates
• Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets
• Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field
• The Effects of Rent Control Expansion on Tenants, Landlords, and Inequality: Evidence from San Francisco

Cited by

• Housing affordability and rent control: The case of elderly renters
• Does rent control increase tenant unemployment?

Discussions

• Bian, X., Chen, R., & Jiang, H. (2025). Do immigrants equally benefit from rent control?. Real Estate Economics, 53(1), 67-100. doi.org/10.1111/1540... [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]