Ending Rent Control Reduced Crime in Cambridge

David Autor, Christopher J. Palmer and Parag Pathak

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2019, vol. 109, 381-84

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.

JEL-codes: K42 R31 R38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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