In the United States, taxation of imputed rent was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1934. (Britain tried such a tax but abandoned it in 1963.) And, given the likely resistance to any new tax, it is highly unlikely that the idea could re-emerge anytime soon, however sensible it might be. But we do have the option of cutting back on government incentives to own rather than rent.

Beyond tax policy, we need to look at landlord-tenant law. Mr. Bourassa and Mr. Hoesli contend that Switzerland’s law in this area is relatively attractive, compared with those of other countries. In the United States, it is administered by 50 separate states, so treatment of renters is confusing to national economic commentators. The law, of course, should offer congenial ways to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. But it should also ensure that people’s various concerns about renting — about possible evictions and rent increases, for example, — are handled well.

There was a revolution in American landlord-tenant law in the 1960s and ’70s, focusing on the inequities facing minority groups. But since 1972, there has been no major update of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act issued by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Perhaps there should be another revolution in this body of law, focused on making renting more rewarding to people of every background and income level.

Last week, it was good to see that one agenda item for the commissioners, meeting in Boston, was to discuss proposals to revise the law to make the rental process work better.

We should also remember that a goal of “Own Your Own Home Day” was to emphasize thrift. And it is still true today that most people don’t save enough. In a 2011 paper, James M. Poterba of M.I.T., Steven F. Venti of Dartmouth and David A. Wise of Harvard showed that retirement saving in most American households was inadequate and that most households nearing retirement in 2008 had most of their wealth in home equity.

Many people don’t save much unless a regular schedule of mortgage repayment, which builds home equity, enforces it. The 2011 paper argued that the home-equity portion of saving tends to be conserved until very late in life after retirement, thus providing insurance against the risk of living longer than expected.

THUS, encouraging homeownership in the past encouraged better saving plans. And yet the Swiss, without such encouragement, manage to have a high household saving rate. Our national policy needs to take away much of the enormous subsidy to homeownership — but if and when it does so, it will have to find some other way to promote proper saving.