6 . Housing is one of the most important needs for human life. It is also one of the most heavily regulated sectors. Since Worlds War I, in most countries, the government has _______ interfered in the housing market, trying to correct existing or imagined market failures. For example, virtually all countries have had, at some point, rent controls. By the early 2010s, such regulations were abandoned by most countries. However, a renaissance of rent control is now _______ in many countries. For example, limitations on rent setting were imposed in Paris and Lyon (France) in July 2019 and March 2020, _______; state-wide rent growth restrictions were introduced in California in January 2020 and are to remain in force until January 2031; and in Berlin (Germany) rents were _______ for 5 years starting in February 2020, to name just a few examples. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of such measures. After the majority of countries imposed sanitary restrictions, such as lockdowns, in March 2020, the _______ loss of income led to a worldwide wave of eviction (驱逐)bans and rent freezes. Thus, that housing market regulations play an important role is not just _______ fact, it is present reality.

Although governments use various combinations of carrots and sticks to achieve their goals, here we concentrate only on stick policies. _______, we examine the three restrictive housing market regulations:(a)rent control;(b)protection of tenants from eviction; (c)housing _______ . Being ubiquitous (almost everywhere) and often used at a large scale, these policies can affect various aspects of not just the housing market but also the whole _______ . They can influence housing prices and rents, the choice between renting and owning, residential construction, the accumulation and distribution of wealth, and residential mobility. Indirectly, they can contribute to the buildup of price bubbles and ________ of unemployment. The assessment of their effects can be facilitated by the creation of indices (指数)quantifying the degree of severity of such governmental interference. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a multicountry, multiperiod database of rental housing market ________.

This study has several important advantages. First, it ________ a very long period of time, which is important given long-lasting effects of governmental regulations upon markets, especially housing markets where a very ________ good is traded. Second, it uses a wide panel of countries from all ________ continents, taking advantage of a wide variety of not just socioeconomic and cultural conditions but also historical paths. Third, it contains a(n) ________ indicator that measures the intensity of housing rationing—a form of regulation that, until now, has been neglected in the literature.