Investor Rationality: Evidence from U.K. Property Capitalization Rates

Recent analyses have suggested the irrationality of Australian and U.S. office property investors in that they have failed to raise capitalization rates sufficiently at rental cyclical peaks to account for the obvious mean reversion in real rents and thus have significantly overvalued properties. In this article, we present a model of capitalization rates and explain U.K. office and retail cap rates in an error correction framework. We demonstrate that our proxies for expected real rental growth do, in fact, forecast future real growth and that cap rates reflect rational expectations of mean reversion in future real cash flows. Moreover, property cap rates are linked to the equity capitalization rate (dividend/price ratio) and expected real dividend growth in the expected manner.     

Comparing technology education in the U.S. and U.K.

British and American discourses and experiences with respect to technology education are compared. Out of this comparison important issues are identified that have implications for the larger ongoing conversation on technology beyond these countries. They include the role of the state in establishing and validating the subject, the dual claims of technology literacy and technological capability, and dual curricular approaches — content and process.     

The Welfare Effect of Advertising Restrictions in the U.S. Cigarette Industry

The welfare effect of advertisingrestrictions in the U.S. cigarette industry dependsupon the impact of advertising on consumer and producer surplus, the transfer to consumers for being exposed to utility-reducing advertising, and smoking externalities. We estimate a demand equation and a supply relation simultaneously and use the parameter estimates to generate predictions of the impact of advertising restrictions on social welfare. Our results show that advertising restrictions benefit producers by limiting competition and generating higher industry profits, and such restrictions lower social welfare if the external cost of cigarette smoking is sufficiently low.     

U.S. Monetary Policy Surprises and Mortgage Rates

This article examines how the U.S. monetary policy surprises impact the mortgage rates in the nation and across five regions from 1990 to 2008. Regression analysis based on bootstrapping shows that surprises in the target federal funds rate (the target factor) have a significantly positive impact on the 1‐year adjustable‐rate mortgage (ARM) rate within the week of the Federal Open Market Committee announcements and the positive impact lasts up to 1 week after the announcements. Surprises in the future direction of the Federal Reserve monetary policy (the path factor) have significantly positive impacts on both the 1‐year ARM rate and the 30‐year fixed mortgage rates in the first week after the announcement. Furthermore, the responses of mortgage rates are asymmetric and affected by the size of monetary policy surprises, the stage of the business cycle and whether the monetary policy is tightening or loosening. There also exists heterogeneity in the mortgage rate pass‐through process across regions and monetary policy surprises have differential impacts on the regional mortgage rates. The cross‐region variations are mainly correlated with the regional housing market conditions, such as home vacancy and rental vacancy rates.     

National Vacancy Rates and the Persistence of Shocks in U.S. Office Markets

In this paper, we develop and estimate a model that decomposes the variance in office vacancy rates into market-specific, time-specific, and random components. The results indicate significant differences in natural vacancy rates across markets. We also find some persistence in deviations from these natural vacancy rates. The analysis is applied to both central business district (CBD) and suburban office markets. We find that natural vacancy rates differ across CBD markets and across suburban markets. Further, the persistence of disequilibrium in one CBD market seems to differ significantly from that in another. This is not shown to be true for suburban markets.     

Fifty Years of U.K. Competition Policy

The first statute of modern times in Britaindealing with competition policy was passed 50years ago. Since then the policy has beenextended and changed in a number of ways butusually in a piecemeal fashion. The 50thanniversary coincides with probably the greatestchange in U.K. policy, embodied in the 1998Competition Act. The paper reviews the changingscope of the policy, its effects and weaknesses.It also considers the likely future impact ofthe new Act.     

1600只“熊猫”现身巴黎广场吁环保

10月18日．在法国首都巴黎,1600只纸制熊猫被放置在广场上供人们参观。这一活动由世界自然基金会（WWF）发起,旨在呼吁人们保护为数不多的大熊猫,同时提醒人们保护赖以生存的自然环境。     

Regulation and the Development of Competition in the U.K. Gas Supply Industry

When the U.K. gas supply industry was privatised, it retained its monopoly vertically integrated structure. We discuss the forces which led to the deregulation of the U.K. gas supply industry. Important factors in the process include a number of critical reports by the regulatory authorities, the growth of alternative gas supplies including the development of the spot-market, and the success of independents in gaining market share in markets opened up to competition. We also present surveys of gas users and independent gas suppliers and find that price advantage has been the critical factor in the increase in market share gained by the independent gas suppliers.     

Input demands and elasticities in U.K. defence industries

It is often claimed that U.K. arms industries are inefficient. This paper considers the input demand behaviour of defence industries. Two hypotheses are formulated relating to input inelasticity and the resource effects of cuts in military spending. First, it is predicted that the demand elasticities of inputs in defence industries will be lower than those in similar civilian sectors. Second, defence reviews are expected to have a ‘shock effect’ resulting in a ‘shake-out’ of resources from weapons producers. The evidence suggests that the U.K.'s defence industries do not respond to price changes nor to defence reviews.     

Market Power and Joint Dominance in U.K. Brewing

Market power and joint dominance are examined in U.K. brewing. I assess unilateral and coordinated effects, where the latter is equated with joint dominance, and show how one can distinguish between the two econometrically. The application makes use of two demand equations: the nested logit of McFadden [1978a] and the distance-metric of Pinkse, Slade, and Brett [2002] . The two equations yield very different predictions concerning elasticities and markups. Nevertheless, although there is evidence of market power using either demand model, that power is due entirely to unilateral effects. In other words, neither model uncovers evidence of coordinated effects (tacit collusion).     

Ex post Merger Evaluation in the U.K. Retail Market for Books

This paper evaluates the price effects of the merger of two major U.K. book retailers. We use a dataset containing monthly scanner data on a sample of 200 books in 50 local markets for four years around the merger. We compare the price changes after the merger in shops located in areas where both chains were present before the merger and in areas where only one chain was present. We also investigate the country‐wide effect of the merger. We find that the merger did not result in any price increase either at the local or at the national level.     

我国向欧美扩大出口纺织品的应对之策

欧美是世界上最大的纺织品及服装进口国和地区，同时也是我国的纺织品出口的主要市场。长期以来，我国纺织服装出口受其配额的限制，通过长期艰苦的谈判，我国已正式成为世界贸易组织成员。作为目前世界上最大的纺织品服装出口国，一旦取消配额，会不会像人们预期的那样我国纺织品服装在欧美市场的份额大幅提升，甚至翻番？笔者认为，中国的纺织品出口将面临新的发展机遇与挑战，挑战大于机遇。鉴于机遇已有大量文章论述，本文将就我国纺织品出口将遇到的挑战作一专门的论述，以期抛砖引玉。 1.《纺织品服装协议》(以下简称ATC)执行不…     

英国天然气市场重构历程与启示

1949年5月,英国将燃气工业国有化,由此形成了国有企业独家垄断下游供应的市场格局.从1986年开始,英国先后通过BG公司私有化、放开大用户市场、将管输业务与供应业务分离,到1998年最终实现天然气供应环节和销售环节的市场竞争,成为欧洲第一个将供应和输送一体化的天然气市场重构为竞争性市场的国家.英国天然气市场重构历程表明,依法推进天然气市场重构,实现管输业务与供应业务的分离,建立独立的监管机构,持续推动以鼓励竞争为主要目标的改革和加强监管等做法值得借鉴.     

Process safety management: A U.K. approach

Process safety in the UK is discussed from both the legal and management standpoints. General safety legislation requires a formal statement of company policy and arrangements for managing safety, but allows freedom for an organization to decide what those arrangements should be. The basis of a company-wide approach to process safety management that meets legal requirements is outlined. Some of the main points requiring attention for effective process hazard recognition, assessment and control on a continuing basis are discussed.     

Costs and escalation on U.K. aerospace projects

Cost escalation on aircraft projects is a frequent source of controversy. This paper presents a framework for analysing such escalation and assesses the contribution of technical advance, duration and the pressure of demand.     

Corporate tournaments and executive compensation: Evidence from the U.K.

This study tests the implications of tournament theory using data on 100 U.K. stock market companies, covering over 500 individual executives, in the late 1990s. Our results provide some evidence consistent with the operation of tournament mechanisms within the U.K. business context. Firstly, we find a convex relationship between executive pay and organizational level and secondly, that the gap between CEO pay and other board executives (i.e., tournament prize) is positively related to the number of participants in the tournament. However, we also show that the variation in executive team pay has little role in determining company performance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.