The Use of Census Data for Hedonic Price Estimates of Open-Space Amenities and Land Use

Hedonic price models for determining marginal implicit prices of open-space amenities and nonresidential land use were estimated using housing data from the census. Alternative model specifications were compared to evaluate the effects of aggregating land-use data by alternative levels of census geography as well as the use of different sample sizes of census blocks. It was determined that land use is best aggregated at the block group level and that entire populations or very large sample sizes of census blocks should be used with hedonic models.     

Land Value and Parcel Size: A Semiparametric Analysis

We use a semiparametric estimator to analyze the relationship between land values and parcel size in a sample of 158 undeveloped parcels in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The semiparametric estimator combines the benefits of parametric and nonparametric estimation. The value-size relationship is estimated nonparametrically, which permits the function to be linear, convex, and concave in different regions. A simple log-linear parametric relationship is assumed for the rest of the model, which conserves degrees of freedom and simplifies hypothesis testing. Our semiparametric estimates do not reject log-linearity for the value-size relationship.     

Price Indices Based on the Hedonic Repeat-Sales Method: Application to the Housing Market

Shiller (1993) proposes the hedonic repeated-measures (HRM) approach to measuring constant quality price indices for heterogeneous assets such as some bonds and real estate. We derive a mathematical relationship between the coefficients of the HRM model and those from the standard repeat-sales model, and we demonstrate how hedonic characteristics should be chosen for inclusion in the HRM model. Empirical estimates using Fairfax, Virginia, housing transactions data show that the HRM price index evaluated at the mean of the hedonic variable is virtually identical to the standard repeat sales index, just as predicted by our mathematical relationship. But the HRM allows estimation of different price paths for heterogeneous assets. We demonstrate that use of assessed value as the only hedonic characteristic allows parsimonious HRM estimates.     

Land Prices and Land Assembly in the CBD

There is substantial empirical evidence of price concavity in the parcel-size dimension across land-use types and across urban regions. This article examines the degree to which concavity varies between the Central Business District (CBD) and the rest of the urban area. The article provides strong empirical support that the degree of concavity within the CBD is lower than in the rest of the county. Although concavity may be the dominant pricing relationship throughout most urban areas, there is some evidence of the presence of a convex price structure within the urban center.     

Land and Credit: A Study of the Political Economy of Banking in the United States in the Early 20th Century

We find that, in the early 20th century, counties in the United States where the agricultural elite had disproportionately large land holdings had significantly fewer banks per capita, even correcting for state‐level effects. Moreover, credit appears to have been costlier, and access to it more limited, in these counties. The evidence suggests that elites may restrict financial development in order to limit access to finance, and they may be able to do so even in countries with well‐developed political institutions.     

Temperature and Growth: A Panel Analysis of the United States

We document that seasonal temperatures have significant and systematic effects on the U.S. economy, both at the aggregate level and across a wide cross section of economic sectors. This effect is particularly strong for the summer: a F increase in the average summer temperature is associated with a reduction in the annual growth rate of state‐level output of 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points. We combine our estimates with projected increases in seasonal temperatures and find that rising temperatures could reduce U.S. economic growth by up to one‐third over the next century.     

Spring Transportation in China: The Peak-Load Problem with Psychological Factors

Every year around the time of the Chinese New Year, hundreds of millions of people in China return to their hometowns, placing huge pressure on the transportation infrastructure. However, a link between the theoretical model and the Chinese context is missing. This paper provides an in-depth look at the capacity shortage of transportation during Spring Transportation in China. I use a discrete choice model to determine the travel decision mechanism for the potential traveler and extend this model from a single traveler to multiple heterogeneous travelers based on travel distances and the emotional amenity of family reunions.     

The Housing and Credit Bubbles in the United States and Europe: A Comparison

A house price boom occurred simultaneously in the United States and in a number of European countries from 2003 to 2007, accompanied in each case by an expansion in housing finance. This article considers the role of financial innovation along with incomplete markets in these cycles.     

The Influence of Riparian Protection Measures on Residential Property Values: The Case of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds

The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds encourages residential property owners to plant riparian buffers in an effort to reduce stream temperature and thus improve fish habitat. This study estimates the change in the value of streamside residential properties in response to planting a treed riparian buffer. A hedonic pricing analysis suggests that treed riparian buffers reduce the market value of stream-front residential property in the study area.     

Land as Production Input and Collateral: Land Investment by Japanese Firms

Is the collateral role an empirically important determinant of investment in land? We study what has determined the land investment by Japanese firms since the 1990s, after the collapse of the asset-price bubble. With a large panel data set, we estimate nonlinear land-investment functions and calculate q for land assets. The estimates confirm the dual roles of land assets: production inputs and collateral. Firms sold land assets in response to the decline in their sales and the deterioration in financial conditions. Partial q for land assets was generally below one during the period.     

Cash Flows and Net Realizable Values: Further Evidence of the Intuitive Concepts

This paper reports the results of a survey of students with and without prior knowledge of accounting with a view to identifying any differences in their perception of the relevance of current prices of assets.
The combination of cash flows and net realizable values appears to have an intuitive appeal to students with no prior exposure to accounting concepts or practices. In the process of learning about accounting, it seems that students learn to abandon net realizable values in favour of historical costs.     

Auditing in the United States: a historical perspective

This article reports several archival auditing discoveries and episodes, including significant previously unpublished ones, in a context that relates auditing to early corporate enterprises in the United States. While the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's reliance on its audit committee of directors from its inception in 1827 and the functions of the auditing committee of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in the 1850s are the principal subjects of the article, other railroad examples are also provided. These uses of auditing in the early corporate United States provide materials which provide a useful perspective for today's accounting researchers and practitioners as to the fundamental control and governance values of the auditing function. The article advances the basis for explaining the origins and development of auditing in the United States.     

Peculiar Institutions: A British Perspective on Tax Policy in the United States

By both effect and example, tax policy in the United States has a huge impact on the rest of the world. This paper explores five features of the American tax system that seem, from a British and European perspective, to be both especially peculiar and potentially instructive. These are: the remarkably low overall level of taxation; the absence of a value added tax (or any other general national tax on consumption); the absence of any explicit interstate equalisation; the marginal subsidisation of low earnings under the Earned Income Tax Credit; and the fragmentation of power in policymaking, an important aspect of which is the role played by the Constitution. JEL classification: H10, H20, H50, H70.     

The setting of accounting standards in the United States: A historical perspective

Students need to learn in an environment that asks them to question, rather than simply accepting what is given. This perspective is essential for them if they are going to participate fully in a self-regulated profession. Self-regulation requires that we continuously improve our profession and seek acceptability for the standards we set. Students need to embrace this environment by understanding the pros and cons of competing positions, and the importance of these positions to various stakeholders. We believe that students' ability to critically evaluate accounting theory can be improved if they are exposed to various stakeholders' positions from a historical perspective. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to present the instructor and/or student with materials that supplement those generally found in Intermediate Accounting texts. Tables are included which provide specific discussion questions for the articles as well as general discussion questions. Based on this paper, an instructor could select, from the articles and questions included, a set of readings which would enhance their students' overall understanding of the development of accounting standard setting.     

A historical overview of financial crises in the United States

One of the few constants since the United States declared its independence is the presence of frequent financial crises with similar causes. In the nineteenth century, these panics were frequent with eight occurring over the century. However, following the Second World War there was a period of relative calm, which may have led to complacency. The Savings and Loans and the current financial crises have shown that these events remain a very real threat to economic stability.     

博弈论视角下的耕地保护制度与失地农民补偿体系研究

目前,我国耕地保护的现状和失地农民补偿体系存在的问题应当引起我们的高度重视。基于博弈论的分析和当前现状,中央政府应对现有的耕地保护制度进行创新,改革当前的失地农民补偿体系,提高保护耕地补贴,妥善处理好中央、地方、农民之间的利益关系,贯彻落实科学发展观,建设美好和谐的人类家园。     

Executive compensation and managerial incentives: A comparison between Canada and the United States

This paper compares executive pay–performance sensitivities between Canadian firms and US firms. Examining the data for 365 Canadian firms and 675 US firms over the years 1991–1994, we find that the pay–performance sensitivity associated with direct pay and stock ownership is smaller in Canadian firms than in US firms but that the difference diminishes as firm size increases. We also find that during this period Canadian firms underperformed US firms and Canadian CEOs were paid substantially lower than were their US counterparts. Our findings are consistent with the argument that the pay–performance relationship, depending on the intensity of economic regulation, affects corporate performance.     

IFRS in the United States: If,When and How

This paper provides an overview of the convergence efforts of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. It begins with their 2002 Memorandum of Understanding and traces developments up to the December 2011 announcement by the IASB Chair that convergence has come to a close, and it is now time to incorporate IFRS into the US financial reporting system. The paper then assesses approaches being considered by the SEC for incorporating IFRS into the US financial reporting model. The conclusion calls on the SEC to ‘make a decision’ and set a date for US adoption of IFRS. Otherwise, the SEC effectively will have abandoned its goal of a single set of high quality global accounting standards.