One common example of a price ceiling is rent control. In many cities the local government places a ceiling on rents that landlords may charge their tenants. The goal of this policy is to help the poor by making housing more affordable. Economists often criticize rent control arguing that it is a highly inefficient way to help the poor raise their standard of living. One economists called rent control the best way to destroy city other than bombing. The adverse effects of rent control are less apparent to the general population because these effects occur over many years. In the short run landlords have a fixed number of apartments to rent and they cannot adjust this number quickly as market conditions change. Moreover the number of people searching for housing in a city may not be highly responsive to rents in the short run because people take time to adjust their housing arrangements. Therefore the short-run supply and demand for housing are relatively inelastic.
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