User Cost and the Demand for Housing Attributes

A number of studies have related changes in the demand for housing to changes in user cost. All have treated housing as a composite good rather than as a bundle of characteristics. We consider the effect of changing user cost on the demand for the component characteristics of owner-occupied housing, and, given information about the supply of the characteristics, we predict implicit price responses. An empirical test of our model indicates that reductions in user cost result in higher real prices for the non-replicable attributes of housing, examples being location and access to fixed amenities. In contrast, the price of attributes that are perfectly elastic in supply are not affected by changes in user costs. We conclude that the effects of changing user cost are not uniform across housing types and locations, thus generating the appearance of housing submarkets.     

Welfare rights and wrongs: The limits of local anti-poverty strategies

This article discusses the development of local authority anti-poverty initiatives in Britain over the last two decades, setting them in the context of previous targeted anti-poverty activity in this country and in the United States, and focusing in particular upon the important role played by welfare rights within local anti-poverty work. The article also describes in some detail the initiatives in the welfare rights field undertaken by Sheffield County Council in the 1980s as part of its more general commitment during this period to challenging poverty and deprivation in the city and improving welfare services. It is argued that Sheffield provides an example of many of the strengths, and weaknesses, of the welfare rights theme within local authority anti-poverty action; and that from this lessons can be drawn for the role of welfare rights in future anti-poverty initiatives here and elsewhere. In conclusion the more general limitations of local anti-poverty strategies are discussed, contrasting their tactical successes with their more general policy failure in preventing the growth of local poverty.     

Reviews

LEARNING FROM THE USA.

Hambleton, R. and Taylor, M. (eds.) 1993: People in Cities: A Transatlantic Policy Exchange. Bristol: School for Advanced Urban Studies Publications, £12.95.

PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND URBAN DEPRIVATION.

Deakin, N. and Edwards, J. 1993: The Enterprise Culture and the Inner City. London: Routledge, £13.99, paper.

CULTURAL POLICY AND URBAN REGENERATION.

Bianchini, F. and Parkinson, M. (eds) 1993: Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration. Manchester: Manchester University Press, £35.00 cloth.

PERSPECTIVES ON URBAN POLICY.

Atkinson, R. and Moon, G. 1994: Urban Policy in Britain: The City, the State and the Market. Hampshire: Macmillan, £11.99, paper.

EVALUATING URBAN POLICY.

Robson, R. et al. 1994: Assessing the Impact of Urban Policy; Inner Cities Research Programme. Department of the Environment, HMSO,

£40.

DEMOCRATIC CIVIC LEADERSHIP IN TACKLING URBAN PROBLEMS.

Stoker, G. and Young, S. 1994: Cities in the 1990s. Longman. £20, paper.     

Choice of employment status and the wages of employees and the self-employed: Some further evidence

Using US data drawn from the 1978 young men NLS sample, this paper replicates a key finding reported by Rees and Shah in their analysis of self-employment using large-scale British data. A wage equation, which allows for sample selectivity, is estimated for subsamples of employees and the self-employed. Despite differences between the data sets and the variables analysed, the NLS results support Rees and Shah's conclusion that there is positive selection bias in the observed earnings of employees.     

The new independent trade unionism in Hungary

This article describes the development of political and economic reform in Hungary since 1956 and considers the recent emergence of independent trade unionism, particularly the new Democratic Union of Scientific Workers (TDDSZ). The author assesses the prospects for independent trade unionism in general as well as the reform of the official trade union movement (SZOT) in a rapidly changing political climate.     

Fundamental Drivers of Dependence in REIT Returns

We analyse the empirical relationships between firm fundamentals and the dependence structure between individual REIT and stock market returns. In contrast to previous studies, we distinguish between the average systematic risk of REITs and their asymmetric risk in the sense of a disproportionate likelihood of joint negative return clusters between REITs and the stock market. We find that REITs with low systematic risk are typically small, with low short-term momentum, low turnover, high growth opportunities and strong long-term momentum. Holding systematic risk constant, the main driving forces of asymmetric risk are leverage and, to some extent, short-term momentum. Specifically, we find that leverage has an asymmetric effect on REIT return dependence that outweighs the extent to which it increases the average sensitivity of REIT equity to market fluctuations, explaining the strong negative impact of leverage on firm performance especially during crisis periods that has been documented in recent empirical work.     

Institutions,parental selection,and locus of control

Locus of control, that is, people’s perception of how much influence they have over their lives, is an important predictor for economic outcomes – earnings, health and education, to name a few. This article uses difference-in-differences analysis to investigate the importance of the institutional environment for the development of locus of control, using the fall of the Berlin Wall as exogenous shock to the educational system in East Germany. Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP), we find that women showed less external locus of control following the fall of the Berlin Wall but less clear results for men.     

Package mountaineer tourists holidaying in the French Alps: An evaluation of key influences encouraging their participation

This study investigates the key influences that encourage mountaineer tourists, classified as a type of adventure tourist, to participate in package mountaineering holidays. There is limited understanding of why tourists take package adventure holidays, yet the demand for such holidays has grown dramatically in recent years. The author conducted in-depth interviews with mountaineer tourists either during or at the end of their package mountaineering holiday in the Chamonix region of the French Alps. Interview findings provide an insight into package mountaineer tourists. Firstly, mountaineering was an important part of respondents’ lifestyles. Secondly, contrary to previous research on experienced mountaineers, respondents did not consider risk as an important motive and they did not view themselves as risk takers. Thirdly, skills development and experience were key motives encouraging package mountaineering holiday participation. Fourthly, a major concern for respondents was to have a safe mountaineering experience in which the mountaineering organisation and the guide played a key role.     

Steven Waldman,Sacred Liberty: America’s Long,Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom. New York: HarperOne, 2019. ix + 390 pages. USD 28.99 (hardback)

The Review of Austrian Economics -