Localized externalities,contagious processes and the deterioration of urban housing: An empirical analysis

Housing deterioration can develop in spatial-temporal patterns which are compatible with the operation of localized externalities if deteriorated structures exert negative effects on the condition of nearby structures or if structures are affected by unfavorable conditions which are endemic to entire neighborhoods. The pattern of housing deterioration in space and time is examined, using a time series of housing condemnations for Indianapolis. A non-linear logit model with a spatial-temporal lag structure is used to analyze the association between the occurence of new condemnations and the location of existing condemned structures. The model predicts the probability that a housing condemnation occurs within a given time period as a function of the numbers of condemned structures in the same area and adjoining areas at the beginning of the time period. The size of the areas is flexible and an appropriate scale for the process is identified by varying the size of the areas.     

承继与变迁:城市住房功能分析

采用功能分析的方法对新时期城市住房的功能进行研究发现,城市住房功能呈现"显功能"让位于"潜功能"、"潜功能"显性化以及功能多元化的发展特点。新时期城市住房承继着生活必需品的功能,同时又有着新的功能变迁,也正因为功能的承继与变迁,助推了新时期城市房价的上涨。     

Capital-land substitution in urban housing: A survey of empirical estimates

Recent empirical studies of capital-land substitution in urban housing are examined to determine the best estimate of the elasticity of substitution parameter σ. Studies based upon a cross section of metropolitan areas produce a rather narrow range for σ. Studies of individual metropolitan areas produce a wide range of estimates for σ, suggesting that a may vary across metropolitan areas. However, all estimates of σ are probably biased toward zero by errors in the measurement of land values.     

住房价格指数以及区位对住房价格的影响——北京市住房价格实证分析

根据北京市的1308个新建住宅项目数据,建立了Hedonic模型,着重分析了时间、距离、环线以及行政区等变量对住房价格的影响,构建了北京市住房Hedonic价格指数和住房价格的梯度曲线.     

Multifactor productivity and its determinants: an empirical analysis for Mexican manufacturing

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we estimate production functions for the Mexican manufacturing sector and for 14 comprehensive groups, allowing us to construct various measures of multifactor productivity. Second, we analyse some of the determinants of productivity growth. We find that, on the one hand, there is a positive relationship between market concentration and technology adoption; on the other hand, both technology adoption and human capital promote productivity, whilst market concentration exerts a negative influence on it. Our results suggest that, once controlling for the effect on technology adoption, more concentration impacts negatively productivity growth.     

Rehabilitation decisions in rental housing: An empirical analysis

Housing policy-makers show increased interest in encouraging rehabilitation of the existing housing stock. But little is known about what factors influence the decision to invest, particularly in rental housing, making policy design difficult. This paper presents an empirical analysis of individual landlords' housing rehabilitation decisions in one housing market. The analysis tests hypotheses about the impacts of detailed neighborhood, structure, and site characteristics on each owner's investment activity. Findings support the general hypothesis that economic returns to investment have a major effect on rehabilitation decisions, identify some other important circumstances, and suggest which among many specific policy levers should be effective.     

Types of technological scanning in manufacturing SMEs: an empirical analysis of patterns and determinants

As the component of environmental scanning that is concerned with science and technology, products, production processes, hardware and information systems, the concept of technological scanning, especially in small business, has received little empirical attention in the past. This paper aims to better define the different technological scanning practices of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) and identify the main factors that determine these differences. This is done without relation to organizational effectiveness as technological scanning is but one of many potential influences on business performance. Using data obtained from a mail survey on the scanning practices of 324 SMEs, the study hopes to increase our understanding of how various entrepreneurs confront various environments in practice. The research model used is based on the notion that, to define different technological scanning practices in small business, four aspects must be considered: strategic orientation (objectives pursued); types of information sought (on technologies and their costs, human resources necessary, etc.); sources used (customers, fairs, specialized publications, suppliers, research centres, etc.); and scanning management practices (methods used, staff involved, level of formalization, and integration of activities). These aspects are contingent upon four factors: the managers' profile; their perception of the environment; their firm's characteristics; and their information network. A cluster analysis reveals that the sampled firms can be grouped into four separate categories, according to the intensity of their technological scanning activities and the type of strategy used. In the first category, where scanning is most developed, the SMEs emphasize cost reduction and control, followed by improvements in competitiveness; they seek mainly financial and human resource information, and use their own internal resources to obtain it. A second category, where scanning is least developed, puts the emphasis on increasing production capacity and flexibility; these SMEs seek very diverse information from many sources. Of the two intermediate groups, one aims to diversify and increase the quality of products and services; marketing information is obtained through customers, suppliers and subcontractors. The other, whose scanning is better organized, favours increasing production capacity through innovation and market information with the help of governmental and financial institutions. This research concludes that there is no ‘one best way’ to environmental scanning in manufacturing SMEs, and that it all depends upon the organization, its objectives and its environmental pressures.     

城市交通出行影响因素的计量检验

在国内外相关研究的基础上,通过国内40个交通出行样本数据的计量分析,建立了平均出行距离和出行时耗的多元回归方程,发现城市规模是影响单中心城市平均出行距离和出行时耗的主要因素,公交车分担率的提高相应增加了平均出行时耗,而高密度的城市开发有利于出行距离和出行时耗的降低.     

城市绅士化与城市更新--以南京为例

城市绅士化(Gentrification)是西方国家再城市化过程中,城市中心区更新(复兴)的一种新的社会空间现象.文章分析比较了南京城市绅士化与西方城市绅士化在表现形式与动力机制等方面的异同,指出南京房地产市场的发展、中心区产业结构的转型、政府的政策引导、市民的择居观念与行为等是推动当前南京城市绅士化发展的主要动力;在引基础上指出了南京的城市绅士化与城市更新的互动关系,强调尽管发展阶段与表现形式存大差异,但中西方城市绅士化的本质是相同的.因引,为了避免在今后的郊区化过程中出现城市中心区的"空心化",在城市更新过程中吸引中产阶级居住在城市的中心区是保持城市发展活力的明智之举.     

Some empirical results on the nature of the hedonic price function for the urban housing market

An attempt is made to develop a systematic statistical methodology for the analysis of the urban housing market The standard estimation procedures used for fitting hedonic price functions for the urban housing market are reviewed, and several potentially serious sources of bias are noted. An alternative estimator which capitalizes property values into flows and also searches for the appropriate functional form which avoids these biases is developed. The capitalization rate for owner-occupied housing in 1973 is found to be about 0.03. The magnitudes and seriousness of several of the estimation biases are examined within the context of inappropriate policy decisions which can result from the use of the standard estimators. The importance of neighborhood site characteristics in the determination of local site valuations is also examined and it is found that they explain between 15 and 50% of the standardized variation in site valuations. Further, it is found that these traits are capable of inducing valuation differentials as large as 100% between structurally identical sites.     

A computer model for the financial analysis of urban housing projects

A financial analysis model has been implemented within the framework of the APL time-sharing system. The model allows different levels of input and output commands which can be used by persons with different degrees of familiarity with computing, in general, and the APL System in particular. It is the result of a joint study between IBM and the Urban Coalition aiming at providing a computer model of the urban housing process which would allow both government planners and private developers to analyze the financial prospects of individual housing projects under a variety of subsidy provisions and other constraints such as FHA regulations concerning profits. The model includes provisions for different types of sponsors of urban housing projects allowing for different tax treatment of profits and losses, and different formulas for estimating the rent charged. The basic output is either in the form of a summary of financial figures or complete financial tables such as income statements, balance sheets and cash flows.     

Understanding the determinants of crime

In this paper, we use an overlapping generations model where individuals are allowed to engage in both legitimate market activities and criminal behavior in order to assess the role of certain factors on the property crime rate. In particular, we investigate if differences in the unemployment rate, fraction of low human capital individuals in an economy, apprehension probability, duration of a jail sentence, and income inequality could be capable of generating large differences in crime rates that are observed across countries. We find that small differences in the apprehension probability and income inequality can generate quantitatively significant differences in the crime rates across similar environments.     

Exploring the determinants of anti-mafia entrepreneurial behaviour: an empirical study on southern Italian SMEs

This study analyses organized crime from an economic perspective and highlights the crucial role of extortion in mafia activities. From an economic viewpoint, we debate the conditions that lead companies to resist mafia extortion. To study the reactions of firms to extortion, we adopt an institutional perspective and consider the contribution of different theories in the socially responsible behaviour and organized crime literature, in an attempt to understand this complex entrepreneurial behaviour better. A sample of 116 southern Italian SMEs, whose entrepreneurs have publicly opposed mafia extortion, was selected. By adopting a matched-pair design, anti-mafia firms were subsequently matched against a control sample. Determinants of anti-mafia behaviour were investigated by using both unconditional and conditional logistic regression models, in order to regress the anti-mafia choice on a set of economic, demographic, governance, and control variables. The results show that both financial and governance variables are significant determinants of anti-mafia entrepreneurial behaviour (AEB), whereas demographic variables are not relevant.     

Macroeconomic determinants of international housing markets

This paper examines the long-term impact and short-term dynamics of macroeconomic variables on international housing prices. Since adequate housing market data are generally not available and usually of low frequency we apply a panel cointegration analysis consisting of 15 countries over a period of 30 years. Pooling the observations allows us to overcome the data restrictions which researchers face when testing long-term relationships among single real estate time series. This study does not only confirm results from previous studies, but also allows for a comparison of single country estimations in an integrated equilibrium framework. The empirical results indicate house prices to increase in the long-run by 0.6% in response to a 1% increase in economic activity while construction costs and the long-term interest rate show average long-term effects of approximately 0.6% and ?0.3%, respectively. Contrary to current literature our estimates suggest only about 16% adjustment per year. Thus the time to full recovery may be much slower than previously stated, so that deviations from the long-term equilibrium result in a dynamic adjustment process that may take up to 14 years.     

Structural shifts in urban population density gradients: an empirical investigation

This study investigates the structural shifts in urban population density gradients by first using the shifting regression technique of Farley, Hinich, and McGuire to detect the possible change in the structure of an urban area. Secondly, a generalized random coefficient technique is used to simultaneously detect the possible structural change and stochastic behavior of density gradients. Data for 50 United States SMSA's are used to do the empirical analyses.     

Understanding peak avoidance commuting by subway: an empirical study in Beijing

Congestion is a major problem for peak-hour commuters in the Beijing subway system, as it leads to long queuing times and overcrowded vehicles. This paper explores to what extent peak travel can be reduced by providing incentives for peak avoidance. In a stated preference study, travellers’ responses to two financial and two non-financial incentives were measured, and factors increasing or limiting the response were identified. Our results suggest that all four incentives can be reasonably effective tools and the financial incentives seem to have a slightly stronger effect than the services and credit-for-gifts-based scenarios. Ordered logit models indicate that various factors influence people’s receptiveness of incentives for peak avoidance which relate to the ease of change or presence of alternatives and receptiveness to incentives. Both theoretical and policy implications are concluded that the proposed factors and incentive system can help solving the subway congestion in Beijing.     

Institutions and public investment: an empirical analysis

This paper investigates the effect of institutional quality on the levels, volatility and quality of public investment. Our findings suggest an inverse relationship between public investment levels and institutional quality, supporting the idea that governments use public investment as a vehicle for rent seeking. We also find that lower quality of governance increases the volatility of public investment. Finally, we provide some tentative evidence of a positive relationship between institutional quality and the quality of infrastructure. Policymakers who aim to reduce infrastructure needs through capital spending should take measures to strengthen institutional capacity to manage public investments.     

The value of legal housing titles: An empirical study

This paper estimates the value of legal housing titles using a Costa Rican urban housing survey conducted in 1997. The general results obtained regarding the value of legal titles to the average individual are consistent with past estimations found in the literature, but the implications for policy are new; as some groups are shown to value legal titles more than others. The criterion used to create these groups was inspired by the theoretical guidelines provided by past literature and could be easily reproduced by policy makers who may wish to target these types of individuals.