Abdulai, RT, Owusu-Ansah, A, Ohemeng-Mensah, D and Obeng-Odoom, F (2017) Public choice theory and rental housing: an examination of rental housing contracts in Ghana. Housing Studies. ISSN 0267-3037

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Abstract

This paper extends both the literature on rental housing in Ghana and the global literature on the critique of public choice analyses in terms of focus, methods, and positioning. It argues that, contrary to the assumption that all housing policy changes are driven by internal national processes, in the case of Ghana at least, neither tenants (through their use of their greater numbers) nor landlords (through the use of their stronger financial and hence political power) exclusively influence housing policy. Both parties have some power, but landlords use theirs to change rents arbitrarily and decide whom to invite or keep as tenants, while tenants seek to use their power by lodging complaints with the state, albeit to little effect as the power of landlords is overwhelming. There is a strong basis to call into question the public choice argument that it is fair for landlords to extract windfall rent from tenants since their efforts or talents do not increase rent.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Housing Studies on 11th December 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02673037.2017.1408783
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1205 Urban And Regional Planning, 1402 Applied Economics, 1604 Human Geography
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Civil Engineering & Built Environment
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2017 11:15
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 10:55
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/02673037.2017.1408783
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7675

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