An option pricing approach to the valuation of real estate contaminated with hazardous materials

This paper uses option pricing to examine how the presence of hazardous materials affects real estate value. The property owner has two options. The first option is to remove the hazardous materials at the best time. The second option, embedded in the first one, is to redevelop the property at the best opportunity. The owner has three possible timing strategies with respect to the exercise of these two options: remove the hazardous materials first and retain the option to redevelop the property later, remove and redevelop at the same time, or do nothing. Conditions under which the presence of the hazardous materials may either expedite or postpone the decision to redevelop are also derived. If the regulatory environment does not allow the property owner to make optimal timing decisions with respect to the exercise of these options, then our results provide an indication of the cost of regulation as measured by the additional loss in property value.     

Approaches towards a generic methodology for storage of hazardous energy carriers and waste products

Energy carriers – either conventional or ‘new’ ones – have to be provided in large amounts to meet the requirements of permanent availability and reliable supply of electricity. Depending on their state of aggregation, energy carriers are either stored in large masses (if solid or liquid) or at elevated pressures (if gaseous). Both impose the hazard of large-scale fire, in the latter case additionally the danger of explosion or unintended release. Very similar hazards occur for wastes. Solid wastes are present in large masses and only a small part is recycled. Most of the solid wastes are used in energy conversion. The main gaseous waste is CO₂. During capturing also the hazard of unintended release exists. In this article, existing approaches for safe storage and fire prevention are discussed and a generic methodology is outlined. This methodology consists of the following steps:

? gaining knowledge about the behaviour of the material stored (reactivity, thermal stability, etc.),

? assessing the environmental conditions for the storage site (neighbourhood, safety distances, etc.),

? assessment of prospective consequences of an incident and

? development of individual loss prevention conceptions.

All steps require both experimental testing and theoretical considerations about accident scenarios as integral parts of the methodology.     

美国和以色列私募股权基金产业政策比较分析

美国、以色列是目前私募股权基金(PE)产业比较成熟的两个国家,从两国PE产业的发展路径来看,产业政策起到了不可替代的作用。本文通过比较这两国PE产业政策的发展路径和异同点,结合北京、上海、深圳和天津这四大城市PE产业的发展现状,指出PE产业政策的立足点不应该只停留在优惠政策的制定上,而在于金融环境的改善,进而提出从明确产业政策目标、与国外成熟的PE市场建立学习链接、整合国内的PE机构等方面着手调整我国PE产业政策的建议。     

论创新对企业区位选择的作用机制

区域经济学传统区位理论认为,企业区位选择的主要影响因素包括运输费用、劳动力费用、市场需求、资源禀赋因素、集聚因素以及产品生命周期、经济政策环境等其他因素。通过对人类经济发展历程中区位选择实践的总结,可以发现,以技术创新、制度创新、组织创新为主要内容的创新活动不仅对一个经济区位的产生有着根本性的决定作用,也决定着一个区位优势的形成过程,进而决定了不同经济区位之间区位优势的此消彼长。由此,使得企业在区位选择过程中认识到一个区位的经济价值,判断一个区位的优势并对自身的区位选择做出决策。因此,真正影响企业区位的决定性要素是创新。     

吉林省文化创意产业规模、结构的时空分布和趋势——基于信息熵和区位熵的分析

文化创意产业已成为世界各国竞相发展的朝阳产业,对于区域转变经济增长方式、提升城市核心竞争力具有重要的实践意义。当前吉林省文化创意产业增加值以递增速度增加,法人单位、营业收入和从业人员比重增大,但是内部发展不平衡。1998年到2009年吉林省文化创意产业发展经历了三个阶段,并呈现一定收敛趋势,文化创意产业几个典型行业出现了一定的集聚,产业优势比较突出,但是由于行业发展的非均衡性导致了内部产业优势存在差异。     

Managing vulnerability: the implementation of vulnerability reduction measures

Activities involving hazardous substances may cause safety risks to the environment. In addition to hazard reduction measures, such as implementing safety management systems at hazardous facilities, and exposure reduction measures, such as employing safe distances between vulnerable objects and hazardous activities, safety risks can be further minimised through the implementation of vulnerability reduction measures. In the area near where activities involving dangerous substances are being carried out, measures can be taken to reduce the vulnerability, such as increasing the possibilities for emergency response and evacuation. This paper examines what the issues influencing the consideration and implementation of vulnerability reduction measures are. This is done through an examination of land use planning projects in the Netherlands and an analysis of two examinations from the National Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate on the implementation of vulnerability reduction measures to discuss the representativeness of the findings for the Netherlands. The examinations, including the examinations of the Inspectorate, show that the consideration of vulnerability reduction measures is narrower than required by Dutch rules and regulations. Additionally, the implementation of measures is limited. Only half of the vulnerability reduction measures that are adopted in land use plans are actually implemented. Important factors that hampered the consideration and adoption of measures are the restrictions of actual rules and regulation with respect to the enforceability of measures, the limited expertise of those involved and the lack of clarity in tasks and roles regarding the consideration and monitoring of vulnerability reduction measures. More fundamentally, the effectiveness of measures and the need for further risk reduction was discussed. Consequently, more insight is required into the costs and benefits of vulnerability reduction measures and if a more explicit consideration of vulnerability in land use planning practices is desired, elaboration will be needed in the areas of planning legislations, procedures and expertise.     

Sequential entry and plant location in oligopolistic competition

Weberian location theory is confined to a single firm framework, and pays very little attention to the interdependence among firms. To fill up this gap, this article incorporates oligopolistic competition into a simple Weberian model to investigate industrial location patterns when firms are shortsighted, enter sequentially, and locate once-and-for-all. It is shown that the location of a new entrant is closer to (farther away from) the market site compared with the existing firms if the industry is characterized by diseconomies (economies) of scale.     

Transportation rates and plant location in oligopolistic competition with sequential entry

This paper examines the impact of quantity-discounted transportation rates on location patterns of oligopolistic competition with sequential entry. When transportation rates are constant, Hwang and Mai (1990) show that the entrant locates at the same point as the existing firms if the production function exhibits constant returns to scale. The entrant will locate farther away from (closer to) the market than the existing firms do if the production function exhibits increasing (decreasing) returns to scale. This paper shows that Hwang and Mai's results need not hold when transportation rates are a function of quantity shipped and distance traveled.     

Pathways to Homeownership: An Analysis of the Residential Location and Homeownership Choices of Black Households in Los Angeles

Recent studies have documented substantially depressed levels of homeownership among African-American households. While prior analyses have focused largely on racial disparities in household financial characteristics, few studies have assessed the potential role of location choice and locational attributes in the homeownership choice decision. This research applies individual-level Census data from the Los Angeles area to explicitly model the residential location and tenure choice decisions of African-American households. Research findings indicate that there is substantial variation across African-American and white households in the determinants of locational choice among South Central LA, other parts of Los Angeles, and Inland Empire (San Bernardino County) areas. In addition, African-American and white households are found to differ in how location characteristics impact in their tenure choices. Overall, after accounting for location, the empirical analysis served to explain three-fourths of the 23 percentage point gap in homeownership rates between Los Angeles white and black households, whereas models that lack controls for location accounted only for about one-half of the observed gap.     

加入WTO中小商业银行市场定位的战略选择

我国中小商业银行市场定位存在同质同构现象严重、缺乏战略规划等问题。加入WTO后,外资银行的涌入将从业务范围、经营管理机制等方面对我国中小商业银行形成冲击。因此,我国中小商业银行应实行混业经营、发展网络银行等,以应对外资银行的冲击。     

A Housing Price Model with Endogenous Externality Location: A Study of Mobile Home Parks

This research explores the impact of mobile home parks on the value of single-family homes. This is the first study that empirically analyzes the effect of mobile home parks on property values. The empirical methodology used attempts to address the potential identification problem that exists within this study; it is possible that mobile home parks are located in areas of relatively lower land values or next to other land uses that impact property values. To address this identification problem, mobile home park locations are treated as endogenous within the model and the mobile home parks are identified as being located in residential or non-residential areas. The results suggest a negative effect on the selling price of single-family dwellings in close proximity to mobile home parks located in residential areas.     

Disclosure of reserve quantum in the extractive industries

We explore why some firms in the extractive industries disclose mineral reserve quantum in their annual reports and others do not. We propose that the firms' reserve disclosure policies are a function of the extent of information asymmetries, as well as information production, litigation and proprietary costs. More specifically, we propose that a firm's decisions to disclose reserves in the annual report are a function of the stage of the firm's operations, use of project financing, and the cost of measuring reserves. Empirical tests are confirmatory.     

Disclosure of reserve quantum in the extractive industries

We explore why some firms in the extractive industries disclose mineral reserve quantum in their annual reports and others do not. We propose that the firms' reserve disclosure policies are a function of the extent of information asymmetries, as well as information production, litigation and proprietary costs. More specifically, we propose that a firm's decisions to disclose reserves in the annual report are a function of the stage of the firm's operations, use of project financing, and the cost of measuring reserves. Empirical tests are confirmatory.     

我国三次产业间相互拉动关系研究

十八大报告中提出要推进经济结构战略性调整,这是加快转变经济发展方式的主攻方向,必须以改善需求结构、优化产业结构、促进区域协调发展、推进城镇化为重点,着力解决制约经济持续健康发展的重大结构性问题.现阶段要进一步促进中国经济的继续深入协调发展,必须高度重视三次产业间的相互协调促进作用,使农业、工业和建筑业以及服务业稳固协调发展.这不仅是关系经济社会的发展,更是关系民生的重大问题.本文基于VAR模型对1978～2011年三次产业数据进行分析,得出短期和长期中三次产业间相互拉动关系,凸显第三产业的重要作用,并提出相关的发展建议,具有理论和现实意义.     

The Dynamics of Location in Home Price

It is well established that house prices are dynamic. It is also axiomatic that location influences such selling prices, motivating our objective of incorporating spatial information in explaining the evolution of house prices over time. In this paper, we propose a rich class of spatio-temporal models under which each property is point referenced and its associated selling price modeled through a collection of temporally indexed spatial processes. Such modeling includes and extends all house price index models currently in the literature, and furthermore permits distinction between the effects of time and location. We study single family residential sales in two distinct submarkets of a metropolitan area and further categorize the data into single- and multiple-transaction observations. We find the spatial component is very important in explaining house price. Moreover, the relative homogeneity of homes within the submarket and the frequency with which homes sell affects the pattern of variation across space and time. Differences between single and repeat sale data are evident. The methodology is applicable to more general capital asset pricing when location is anticipated to be influential.     

The Politics of Accountability: Institutionalising Internal Auditing in Israel

Israel's attempt at strengthening public sector internal audit is found to have limited success, conforming with experiences of other countries. The adopted internal audit policy had little more than symbolic value, being devoid of stipulations to affect significant change. This is confirmed by implementation data that reveal low scores for most organizations across dimensions of structure, process and outcome. Politics of accountability and policy change models help to explain the causes of ineffectual internal audit legislation and of weak implementation. Findings suggest that top–down approaches to strengthening public sector internal audit are misplaced.     

高校教材建设的"两难"问题及其解决对策

教材建设是高校教学基础性建设的内容之一,日益被国家和高校所重视。在教材的选用上,以国家统编教材为主和以高校自编教材为主的理由和趋势都比较明显。根据不同的办学类型实施各自的教材管理和发展战略,是解决选用教材时应以谁为主的关键所在。     

Strategic provision of local public inputs for oligopolistic firms in the presence of endogenous location choice

We develop a model in which two regional governments compete for a mobile oligopolistic firm by providing local public inputs. The central mechanism of our model is the interaction of an agglomeration advantage (partial nonrivalness of the local public inputs) and an agglomeration disadvantage (costs associated with the change of location of firms). We show that a central government of both regions induces an interregionally optimal allocation of firms by providing the optimal levels of local public inputs. The decentralized provision of local public inputs by regional governments, however, leads in most cases to a (interregionally) suboptimal allocation.     

中国股市融资规模与流动性对高技术产业技术进步的影响

利用中国股票市场和高技术产业1997～2009年的面板数据,分别建立股票市场的融资规模和流动性对高技术产业的R&D内部资金支出、新产品产值以及经DEA分析得到全要素生产率影响的回归模型,考察股票市场融资规模和流动性对高技术产业技术进步的影响,结果显示股票市场融资规模的扩大将有助于高技术产业技术进步;而股票市场流动性对处于不同产业发展阶段的高技术产业影响效应不同,当高技术产业处于创业阶段,股票市场流动性对其技术进步作用不显著,而高技术产业处于二次创业产业化阶段,股票市场流动性对其技术进步具有明显的推动作用。