Do vacancy decontrol provisions undo rent control?

When rent control laws have vacancy decontrol-recontrol provisions, new tenants may offset lower future rent by paying higher current rent. Also when tenants compete for scarce apartments, those with longer durations will predominate In rental sectors that are controlled. New York City's rent stabilization has a vacancy decontrol-recontrol provision. As expected, I find that in 1981 tenants new to New York City's rent-stabilized sector paid higher rent than those who occupied comparable apartments in an uncontrolled sector. However, these same stabitized-sector tenants wound up paying less in 1987, provided that they still occupied the apartments. Furthermore, those who chose the stabilized sector had longer durations than those who chose the uncontrolled sector. (C) 1997 Academic Press.