Evidence of irreversibility in the UK property market

The real options approach to valuation of property investment suggests that various sources of uncertainty about future returns on investment have important effects on irreversible property investment decisions. Our aim in this study has been to examine how investment decisions at three main stages of the property development/investment processes respond to different sources of uncertainty. Based on the methodology developed by Episcopos (1995), the neo-classical proposition of Hartman-Abel that predicts a positive investment-uncertainty relationship is tested against that proposed by the real option theory. It is interesting to note that our empirical findings are generally consistent with the prediction of the real option theory that uncertainty increases the option value to wait for the arrival of new information thus decreasing the current investment activities. In periods of high volatility, we would expect investors in the property market to be more prudent and scale down their investment exposure to market volatility compared with periods of a relatively stable market environment.     

The R&D Investment–Uncertainty Relationship: Do Strategic Rivalry and Firm Size Matter?

This paper uses a real options perspective to augment a standard research and development (R&D) investment model and implement a firm‐level empirical analysis to assess the practical significance of market uncertainty and its interactions with strategic rivalry and firm size. We use a measure of firm‐relevant market uncertainty along with panel data and find that firms invest less in current R&D as uncertainty about market returns increases. The effect of firm‐specific uncertainty on R&D investment is smaller in markets where strategic rivalry is likely to be more intense. Furthermore, holding access to financing constant, the effect of uncertainty on R&D investment is attenuated for large firms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bayesian Estimation of Willingness‐to‐pay Where Respondents Mis‐report Their Preferences*

We introduce a modified conditional logit model that takes account of uncertainty associated with mis‐reporting in revealed preference experiments estimating willingness‐to‐pay (WTP). Like Hausman et al. [Journal of Econometrics (1988) Vol. 87, pp. 239–269], our model captures the extent and direction of uncertainty by respondents. Using a Bayesian methodology, we apply our model to a choice modelling (CM) data set examining UK consumer preferences for non‐pesticide food. We compare the results of our model with the Hausman model. WTP estimates are produced for different groups of consumers and we find that modified estimates of WTP, that take account of mis‐reporting, are substantially revised downwards. We find a significant proportion of respondents mis‐reporting in favour of the non‐pesticide option. Finally, with this data set, Bayes factors suggest that our model is preferred to the Hausman model.     

商业地产分期开发期权价值分析

开发企业采取分期开发方式,可以利用项目未知信息中蕴涵的机会给项目带来进一步选择的灵活性,以扩大项目价值。传统投资决策方法只适用于短期的、确定性高的一次性投资项目,而实物期权理论却是探讨分期开发投资的一种有效工具。采用Geske推导的复合看涨期权定价公式以及B-S简单看涨期权定价模型,构建分期开发期权价值计算模型,求解分期开发期权价值大小。该模型合理地评估了商业地产分期开发期权价值的大小,可以作为商业地产开发商进行投资决策的依据。     

复合期权模型在矿业工程投资决策中的应用

本文介绍了复合期权的基本概念及国内外研究情况,就复合期权理论在矿业工程投资决策中的应用进行了探讨,采用geske模型并结合实例对此进行了验证。研究表明,运用复合期权理论进行矿业工程投资决策,在某种程度上能更好地反映不确定性和管理灵活性的价值。     

Devaluating projects and the investment–uncertainty relationship

Sarkar (2000. On the investment–uncertainty relationship in a real options model. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 24, 219–225) analyzes the investment–uncertainty relationship in a real-options model demonstrating that the widely accepted conclusion that uncertainty harms investment can be reversed. Wong (2006. The effect of uncertainty on investment timing in a real options model. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, forthcoming) confirms this point showing that more uncertainty can reduce the expected time to exercise the investment option. This paper deals with such an issue and attempts to integrate both Sarkar's and Wong's analysis.For risk-neutral investors, we show that uncertainty can favor investment only if projects devaluate over time. This conclusion does not hold in a CAPM framework, where we demonstrate that the relationship uncertainty/investment can be positive (a) even when the investment threshold increases with uncertainty and (b) in the case of projects negatively correlated with the market portfolio.     

Risk, uncertainty, and option exercise

Many economic decisions can be described as an option exercise or optimal stopping problem under uncertainty. Motivated by experimental evidence such as the Ellsberg Paradox, we follow Knight (1921) and distinguish risk from uncertainty. To capture this distinction, we adopt the multiple-priors utility model. We show that the impact of ambiguity on the option exercise decision depends on the relative degrees of ambiguity about continuation payoffs and termination payoffs. Consequently, ambiguity may accelerate or delay option exercise. We apply our results to investment and exit problems, and show that the myopic NPV rule can be optimal for an agent having an extremely high degree of ambiguity aversion.     

The Impact of Short‐ and Long‐run Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Investment: A Panel Study of Industrial Countries*

We examine the relationship between aggregate investment and exchange rate uncertainty in the G7, using panel estimation and decomposition of volatility derived from the components generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (GARCH) model. Our dynamic panel approach takes account of potential cross‐sectional heterogeneity, which can lead to bias in estimation. We find that for a poolable subsample of European countries, it is the transitory and not the permanent component of volatility which adversely affects investment. To the extent that short‐run uncertainty in the CGARCH model characterizes higher frequency shocks generated by volatile short‐term capital flows, these are most deleterious for investment.     

风险投资决策的多阶段混合式期权定价模型及其分析

从风险投资的投资时间多阶段性和投资决策不确定性出发,运用实物期权的二叉树模型和扩展后的三叉树模型,建立了一个符合风险投资实际的多阶段混合式期权定价模型,以期开拓对风险投资决策的新思路。     

电力投资决策的期权博弈模型及其发展评述

电力投资决策对于电力企业甚至电力行业的发展有着举足轻重的作用,电力企业的投资选择是在外部环境竞争复杂性和不确定性的约束下进行的,需要研究复杂竞争环境和不确定因素条件下的投资决策方法。本文以电力投资决策模型分析入手,总结了电力投资决策模型的发展过程,探讨了电力投资的期权博弈模型发展过程、研究重点、缺陷、及发展方向,展示了电力投资决策期权博弈理论的发展脉络和思考重点。实践证明,该方法不仅能够对电力投资项目进行更加科学的而评估,还能够为电力行业的发展做出更加科学合理的决策。     

实物期权在企业并购投资决策中的应用

并购方在进行企业并购的时候,需要对被并购的企业进行价值分析,以确定是否进行并购投资。由于被并购方企业的价值具有不确定性,所以本文从被并购企业的投资期权价值的确定出发,构建数学模型,以定量的方法,为并购方提供一种投资决策的方式,以进行企业并购投资的时机选择。     

Global and Country‐Specific Output Growth Uncertainty and Macroeconomic Performance

We identify global and country‐specific measures of output growth uncertainty for a large OECD country sample by means of a dynamic factor model with stochastic volatility. We find evidence for major bouts of global uncertainty in the early 1970s and late 2000s, and a number of periods with elevated levels of either global or national uncertainty, particularly in the early 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. VAR impulse responses of national macroeconomic variables to our estimated measures of uncertainty reveal that global uncertainty is the major driver of macroeconomic performance in most countries, whereas the impact of national uncertainty is small and frequently insignificant. We also find that uncertainty is transmitted primarily through investment and trade flows rather than through consumption demand.     

Dynamic Lobbying Conflicts

This paper analyzes a dynamic lobbying model in which two antagonistic lobbies compete with each other for a prize over two time periods that are linked through status quo bias. The attacker has to decide whether to attempt an attack on the status quo already in the first period or whether to wait. We identify how the attacker’s behavior in the dynamic model differs from that in a comparable static model. Two antagonistic effects are the “option value effect” that is similar to the real option effect in the theory of investment decisions under uncertainty; and a “defender discouragement effect” that often makes change cheaper to achieve than in a comparable static model.      

ARE EMPIRICAL MEASURES OF MACROECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY ALIKE?

Abstract There is a plethora of time series measures of uncertainty for inflation and real output growth in empirical studies but little is known whether they are comparable to the uncertainty measure reported by individual forecasters in the survey of professional forecasters. Are these two measures of uncertainty inherently distinct? This paper shows that, compared with many uncertainty proxies produced by time series models, the use of real‐time data with fixed‐sample recursive estimation of an asymmetric bivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model yields inflation uncertainty estimates which resemble the survey measure. There is, however, overwhelming evidence that many of the time series measures of growth uncertainty exceed the level of uncertainty obtained from survey measure. Our results highlight the relative merits of using different methods in modelling macroeconomic uncertainty which are useful for empirical researchers.     

Investment and Uncertainty: A Theory‐based Empirical Approach*

This paper provides empirical evidence on the dynamic effects of uncertainty on firm‐level capital accumulation. A novelty in this paper is that the firm‐level uncertainty indicator is motivated and derived from a theoretical model, the neoclassical investment model with time to build. This model also serves as the base for the empirical work, where an error‐correction approach is employed. I find a negative effect of uncertainty on capital accumulation, both in the short run and the long run. This outcome cannot be explained by the model alone. Instead, the results suggest that the predominant mechanism at work stems from irreversibility constraints.     

What are the macroeconomic effects of high‐frequency uncertainty shocks?

This paper evaluates the effects of high‐frequency uncertainty shocks on a set of low‐frequency macroeconomic variables representative of the US economy. Rather than estimating models at the same common low frequency, we use recently developed econometric models, which allow us to deal with data of different sampling frequencies. We find that credit and labor market variables react the most to uncertainty shocks in that they exhibit a prolonged negative response to such shocks. When looking at detailed investment subcategories, our estimates suggest that the most irreversible investment projects are the most affected by uncertainty shocks. We also find that the responses of macroeconomic variables to uncertainty shocks are relatively similar across single‐frequency and mixed‐frequency data models, suggesting that the temporal aggregation bias is not acute in this context.     

Value and risk dynamics over the innovation cycle

This paper studies investment in intellectual capital and corresponding value and risk dynamics over the innovation cycle. We assume that the innovation cycle consists of three phases, R&D, trial, and market introduction phases. We use a real option investment model to characterize firm value and risk dynamics over the innovation cycle and find that firm value is the sum of the value of assets in place and non-linear option values related to breakthrough, exit, and market introduction options. Firm risk over the innovation cycle is highly non-linear and quite distinct in different phases. During the R&D phase risk is high as the firm faces high operating leverage originating from R&D fixed costs together with technological uncertainty. During the trial phase risk is significantly lower and dominated by option risk to launch the product in the market while after the introduction of the product in the market risk is equivalent to the asset risk of the company. Our model is consistent with the view that positive excess returns of R&D intensive firms are a compensation for risk. Based on this insight we derive several testable predictions.     

基于实物期权的项目投资决策方法

由于受不确定性的影响,传统的项目投资决策方法已不能全面衡量一个项目的价值,实物期权方法是一种能定性和定量考察这些不确定性因素的方法。本文采用实物期权理论对项目的灵活性价值定量计算,并结合EXCEL对项目各项指标进行敏感性分析,确定对期权价值的影响较大的因素,以便于在实际应用时尤其要关注敏感性因素值的确定与变化,以帮助决策者抓住重点,做出科学的决策。     

实物期权在房地产投资估价中的应用

与传统的投资决策方法相比,实物期权方法不仅考虑到房地产投资的不确定性带来的风险,还体现了其柔性管理和战略投资的价值。介绍了实物期权理论的概念与分类,将实物期权理论引入房地产投资估价中,并通过等待期权实例分析说明了其在实际中的应用。