Hedging house price risk with futures contracts after the bubble burst

This paper extends the existing literature on managing house price risk. While previous work finds that a hedger would have reduced a large amount of variance in housing returns in Las Vegas, Nevada using Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contracts, we show that neither static nor dynamic strategies would have maintained an effective hedge during the significant decline in housing prices. The inability to hedge house price risk using CME futures contracts ultimately calls into question the long-term viability of housing futures.     

浅谈我国资产评估管理中存在的若干问题及相应对策

从经济学角度系统分析资产评估业现状及其存在的弊病，使之适应市场经济发展的要求，成为真正履行独立、客观、公正原则的，具有国际水平的社会中介服务行业。     

公司治理结构与国有资产监管

与私人资产委托代理关系形成的所有权与控制权的分离问题类似,在国有资产委托代理关系下存在着国有资产全民所有权与政府控制权的分离以及政府享有的所有权与企业经营者拥有的经营权的分离问题.借鉴公司治理结构中的股东会、董事会、监事会、经理人之间的相互制衡的结构设计原则,按照国有资产的三层委托代理关系,本文构建了国有资产监管的政治委托层次、行政委托层次和经济委托层次的三重治理结构模式.     

住房增加幸福：是投资属性还是居住属性？

本文利用中国家庭金融调查2011年的调查数据就城镇居民自有住房与个体主观幸福感的关系进行了实证研究。我们发现,房屋的资产属性(房屋产权、预期房屋价格变化和实际房屋价格变化趋势)对居民主观幸福的影响在10%的显著性水平下不显著,住房的财富效应未被发现。但是,我们的实证结果显示房屋的居住属性(房屋房间数目、房屋人均使用面积和房屋已使用时间等)均对居民主观幸福感有显著的正向影响。但是,对拥有多套房屋的家庭来说,第二套及以上房屋拥有对于他们的主观幸福感的提升既非源于房屋居住属性,也非资产属性。最后,对同为本地区的户籍居民且租房的家庭而言,是否拥有自有产权房屋对其幸福感的影响并不显著。     

中国城镇住宅碳排放强度分析和用能政策反思

基于最新可利用的统计数据,对中国城镇住宅使用过程中分品种能源消耗引起的碳排放等指标进行估算,并对城镇住宅碳排放量、碳排放强度的变化指数模型进行分解。结果表明：研究期内城镇住宅能耗结构趋于“清洁化”,住宅直接CO2排放比例趋于下降;住宅能源强度、人均住房面积、家庭总户数、能源碳密度等是影响住宅碳排放和排放强度变化的主要社会经济和能源驱动因子。文章最后提出住宅用能的几点政策启示。     

Neighborhood quality and labor market outcomes: Evidence from quasi-random neighborhood assignment of immigrants

Settlement in a socially deprived neighborhood may hamper individual labor market outcomes because of lack of employed or highly skilled contacts. I investigate this hypothesis by exploiting a unique natural experiment that occurred between 1986 and 1998 when refugee immigrants to Denmark were assigned to municipalities quasi-randomly, which successfully addresses the methodological problem of endogenous neighborhood selection. I show that individuals sort into neighborhoods. Taking account of location sorting, living in a socially deprived neighborhood does not affect labor market outcomes of refugee men. Their labor market outcomes are also not affected by the overall employment rate and the overall average skill level in the neighborhood. However, an increase in the average skill level of non-Western immigrant men living in the neighborhood raises their employment probability, while an increase in the employment rate of co-national men living in the neighborhood raises their real annual earnings. This provides quasi-experimental evidence that residence-based job information networks are ethnically stratified.     

Value for money in energy efficiency retrofits in Ireland: grant provider and grant recipients

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Homes scheme to provide a financial incentive for home owners to engage in energy efficiency retrofits. This study analyses data from the scheme and Building Energy Rating data for participants to the scheme to examine the value for money achieved by households. In addition, this research identifies which retrofit combinations provide greatest value for money, in terms of energy efficiency gains, for the grant provider. We utilize an error-in-variables approach to model the variation in benefits accruing to households of varying characteristics. We find that household and grant provider surplus can be maximized in the short term by retrofitting less energy efficient and larger homes, timber or steel frame homes and houses rather and apartments. The types of retrofits leading to the greatest surplus for both household and grant provider include cavity wall insulation paired with either a boiler with heating controls or heating controls only retrofit.     

The effectiveness of home energy audits: A case study of Jackson,Wyoming

This study examines the factors that influence households to adopt modifications recommended by home energy audits and whether these audits lead to significant reductions in electricity use. Household decisions after the audits are recorded along with the corresponding recommended modifications and the offers for co-funding. A discrete choice model of the household decision after the audit is estimated. The results indicate that the potential improvement in heating efficiency from the proposed modifications increase the probability of implementing conservation measures. Co-funding offers also significantly raise the odds of accepting the modifications but are relatively less important than anticipated efficiency improvements. Several approaches are used to determine whether and how much energy is saved after the audits. Electricity demand models are estimated using data two years before and after each household audit. For households who decide to modify their houses after the audit, monthly average electricity use per square foot decreases 7%. While there is an estimated 2% reduction in electricity use attributed to the audit by households who decided not to adopt the proposed modifications, this reduction is not statistically significant, casting doubt on the presence of modifications in behavior from the audit information itself. For all households audited, the results from the electricity demand models suggest that the LVE home energy audit program reduced household electricity use 4.7%. In contrast, a differences-in-differences approach using synthetic control groups based upon a smaller but still sizeable sample of 2000 observations finds that home energy audits reduce household electricity use by more than 10%. Overall, these findings suggest that home audits result in modest but significant reductions in energy use and that co-funding encourages investments that otherwise may not be privately optimal.     

基于专用性资产视角的供应商信任治理

精益生产中最紧密层供应商为适应总装厂要求进行了大量的专用性资产投资,产生多种机会主义风险,双方通过构建信任机制进行有效的抑制。在构建中除了重视信誉、信息、风险分散、激励与约束这些常规驱动因素外,十分注重资产的专用性投资、供应商技能与规模、双方地位、共同过程分析这些特殊驱动因素。本文在研究这些信任驱动因素的内在作用机理后,建立了供应商信任治理模型。     

商品期货对资产配置的风险分散价值研究

基于BEKK-GARCH模型,本文考察了我国部分商品期货品种与股价指数收益率之间条件相关系数的动态变化特征,结果表明:商品期货与股价指数收益率之间存在较低的相关性;一些商品期货品种价格与股价指数的市场相关性呈长期减弱的趋势;而且,两者之间的相关性随股票市场波动率的增大而下降,股市波动幅度越大,商品期货与股价指数之间的相关性越低;这些都意味着商品期货对于资产配置有较好的风险分散价值。