The Boom,the Bust and the Future of Homeownership

This article investigates the boom and bust in U.S. homeownership rates over the 2000–2010 period. Using individual‐level census data, we first estimate 204 homeownership regressions stratified by household age (21, 22, …, 89) and survey year (2000, 2005 and 2009). Shift‐share methods confirm that changes in the model coefficients that reflect household attitudes, lending standards and other market conditions—but not population socioeconomics—were the primary driver of the boom and bust in homeownership over the decade. This pattern holds for nearly all age groups and is more pronounced for recent movers. Results also suggest that homeownership rates may have come close to bottoming out in early 2013 at 65% after falling roughly four percentage points from their peak in 2006. This suggests little lasting effect of the grand homeownership policy experiment of recent decades.     

Can you get what you pay for? Pay‐for‐performance and the quality of healthcare providers

Despite the popularity of pay-for-performance (P4P) among health policymakers and private insurers as a tool for improving quality of care, there is little empirical basis for its effectiveness. We use data from published performance reports of physician medical groups contracting with a large network HMO to compare clinical quality before and after the implementation of P4P, relative to a control group. We consider the effect of P4P on both rewarded and unrewarded dimensions of quality. In the end, we fail to find evidence that a large P4P initiative either resulted in major improvement in quality or notable disruption in care.     

Housing Supply: The Other Half of the Market A Note from the Editor

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics -     

The Effect of Extrinsic Product Attributes of Pineapple Juice on Consumer Intention to Purchase

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which consumer information concerning several attributes of the pineapple juice packaging, including the manufacturing process, influenced the consumer intention to purchase. It is suggested that high-pressure technology retains nutrients as vitamins and keeps sensory attributes closer to those of fresh foods. These advantages meet the increasing consumer demand for healthy products and a more differentiated food assortment. However, the benefits provided by these products are not always communicated to consumers. Although information about the technology (high-pressure) had been positively considered by consumers when fruit juice consumption was taken into account, fewer studies have focused on this aspect. The effect of 5 attributes of the package (information on manufacturing process, product definition, production information, price, and brand name) on the pineapple juice consumer intention to purchase was investigated by 96 fruit juice consumers. Information about technology (high-pressure) positively contributed to the consumer pineapple juice intention to purchase and showed to be essential when it is applied on pineapple juice production, being a useful approach when adequately communicated to consumers.     

Efficiency and Seasonality in the UK Housing Market, 1991–2001*

This paper considers the informational efficiency of the UK owner‐occupied housing market over the period 1991–2001. Original small‐area, monthly, quality‐adjusted house price index series are developed from raw housing transaction observations for a number of UK counties and cities. These series are then tested in an autoregressive setting for characteristics indicative of weak market efficiency and seasonality. The major conclusion drawn is that there exists little evidence to support notions of inefficiency in these markets over the period considered.     

On Some Myths about Sequenced Common-Value Auctions

Equilibria are constructed for classes of game models of sequenced second-price auctions having identical common-valued objects. In some of these the equilibrium price falls on average, and in others the seller loses on average by committing to announce publicly something that he knows. Both of these possibilities are surprises.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: D44.     

Putting the Corporation in its Place

This article challenges the idea that the corporation is a globallysuperior form of business organization and that the Anglo-Americancommon-law is more conducive to economic development than thecode-based legal systems characteristic of continental Europe.Although the corporation had important advantages over the mainalternative form of organization (partnerships), it also haddisadvantages that limited its appeal to small- and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs). As a result, when businesses were providedwith an intermediate choice, the private limited liability company(PLLC) that combined the advantages of legal personhood andjoint stock with a flexible internal organizational structure,most chose not to organize as corporations. This article tracksthe changes that occurred in the menu of business organizationalforms in two common-law countries (the United Kingdom and theUnited States) and two countries governed by legal codes (Franceand Germany) and presents data showing the rapidity with whichfirms in each country responded to enabling legislation forPLLCs. We show that the PLLC was introduced first and most easilyin a code country (Germany) and last and with the most difficultyin a common-law country (the United States). Late introductionwas associated with prolonged use of the partnership form, suggestingthat the disadvantages of corporations did indeed weigh heavilyon SMEs.