THE DYNAMICS OF UK NATIONAL AND REGIONAL HOUSE PRICES

In this paper, the Johansen cointegration technique is applied to modeling the dynamics of national and regional house prices. It is concluded that household income, real mortgage rate and housing completions are significant factors influencing house price changes at the national level. The underlying structure of the national market is investigated, showing that while price trends in some regions of the UK are strongly related by causal processes, others are relatively independent     

A portmanteau experiment on the relevance of individual decision anomalies for households

Although households are responsible for many important decisions, they have rarely been the subject of economics experiments. We conduct a series of linked and incentivized experiments on decision-making, designed to see if the anomalies typically found in individual choice experiments are found when the subjects are couples from long-term relationships. Specifically we investigate the endowment effect, the compromise effect, asymmetric dominance and the ‘more is less’ phenomena. Comparing the results with two control groups (students and non-student individuals) we find broadly the same pattern of anomalies in individuals as we do in couples. Thus behavioural patterns that appear in individual choices appear relevant for decisions made by established couples.     

Household Versus Individual Valuation: What’s the Difference?

Standard practice in stated preference typically blurs the distinction between household and individual responses, but without a clear theoretical or empirical justification for this approach. To date there have been no empirical tests of whether values for say a two adult household elicited by interviewing one randomly selected adult are the same as the values generated by interviewing both adults simultaneously. Using cohabiting couples, we conduct a choice experiment field study valuing reductions in dietary health risks. In one treatment a random individual is chosen from the couple and interviewed alone; in the other treatment, both partners are questioned jointly. We find significant differences in household values calculated from joint as opposed to individual responses, with further variation between the values elicited from men and women. Our results question the assumption, implicit in common practice, that differences between individually and jointly elicited estimates of household values can effectively be ignored.      

A bottom-up re-estimation of global fisheries subsidies

Using a recently developed database of fisheries subsidies for 148 maritime countries spanning 1989 to the present, total fisheries subsidies for the year 2003 is computed. A key feature of our estimation approach is that it explicitly deals with missing data from official sources, and includes estimates of subsidies to developing country fisheries. Our analysis suggests that global fisheries subsidies for 2003 are between US25 and 29 billion, which is higher than an earlier World Bank estimate of between US 25 and 29 billion, which is higher than an earlier World Bank estimate of between US 14–20 billion. This new estimate is lower than our 2000 global subsidies estimate of US$ 30–34 billion. We find that fuel subsidies compose about 15–30% of total global fishing subsidies, and that capacity enhancing subsidies sum to US$ 30–34 billion. We find that fuel subsidies compose about 15–30% of total global fishing subsidies, and that capacity enhancing subsidies sum to US 16 billion or about 60% of the total. These results imply that the global community is paying the fishing industry billions each year to continue fishing even when it would not be profitable otherwise—effectively funding the over-exploitation of marine resources.     

Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Recovery Programme in the 1990s: an evaluation using household survey data

During the 1990s, the Government of Zimbabwe implemented an Agricultural Recovery Programme to help smallholder farmers recover from repeated severe droughts. The programme aimed to provide drought-affected smallholders with crop packs (free seeds and fertiliser) and mechanised tillage services. This article evaluates the coverage, poverty-sensitivity and impact of the programme using a more in-depth analysis of household survey data than has been done to date. The programme’s tillage component was unsuccessful, repeatedly reaching less than 5% of its target group; the crop pack component, however, reached four-fifths or more of its target group. Most of the poorer households received crop packs, but richer households were slightly more likely to get them. Those who did receive crop packs planted larger areas under staple crops, regardless of their poverty status. These findings are generally robust for a range of poverty proxies. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence on the impact, if any, of crop packs on grain yields. Crop packs—properly attuned to local agro-ecological conditions—may serve a useful role in post-drought recovery. Steps must be taken, however, to ensure that all the poor receive crop packs. Attempts by government to provide mechanised tillage to hundreds of thousands of smallholder households are not recommended.     

Developing breakthrough products: challenges and options for market assessment

Competitive pressures and market forces are augmenting the importance of product innovation as a source of competitive advantage. Key drivers underpinning market success have the capacity to develop the “right” products for the “right” customers, using the “right” channels, with a shorter development cycle than competitors. But when breakthrough products (BTPs) are involved, how do we sort out what is “right”? How do we identify customers' future requirements when the technology platforms are still unfolding, products are still in development and customers lack experience with the product? Traditional product development market research techniques are problematic since they assume the customer has historical experience with products similar to those being created. The objective of this paper is to raise the awareness of the OM community with the strengths and weaknesses of existing methodologies for developing and introducing innovative products to market. Further, it suggests promising future directions for both practice and research when BTPs are involved. This is important because of the central role OM plays in managing the success of the BTP development process.     

Service Sector Restrictiveness and Economic Performance: An Estimation for the MENA Region

This article aims to assess barriers to service provision in the banking and telecom sectors of four Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, and the impact of these barriers on firm performance. Our methodology involves the computation of aggregate and modal trade restrictiveness indices (TRIs) by sector, and utilisation of these TRIs as regressors of firms’ economic performance. Our analysis shows that significant regulatory reforms have taken place in the service sectors over the last decade in the MENA region, but that a broad range of restrictions still remain. The most significant change in these service sectors has been the lifting or softening of constraints on foreign equity participation. These regulatory reforms, however, have had varying degrees of impact on market structure depending on the country, the sector and the mode. Moreover, service restrictions have had an impact on economic performance in the three studied sectors. While a rent‐creating effect seems to dominate restrictions on banking and fixed telecom sectors, a cost‐inefficiency effect seems to dominate the mobile telecom sector. Finally, we find evidence of interactions between modal restrictions for banking services. Our results suggest a complementarity between Modes 3 and 1, as well as a substitution effect between Modes 3 and 4 in the banking sector.     

Charting the coast: spatial planning for tourism using public participation GIS

Coastal tourism continues to experience sustained growth on a global scale, leading to concerns regarding socio-cultural, economic and environmental impacts. To-date, the explicit integration of tourism development with coastal management has lagged behind more traditional planning concerns, presenting an opportunity and challenge for managers. Spatial planning using public participation geographical information systems (PPGIS) offers one solution for integration that is cognisant of the centrality of place in tourism. PPGIS was used to document spatially explicit data on place values, activities and development preferences along the remote, Aboriginal-managed Port Smith (Purnturrpurnturr) coastline in Western Australia. The research was developed and implemented as a collaborative partnership between Aboriginal custodians and University researchers. Ninety-seven questionnaires containing participatory mapping were conducted with residents and visitors. The participatory mapping approach successfully identified areas of potential conflict and allows tourism planners and managers to implement spatial planning that explicitly recognises and accounts for visitor values and preferences. Tourism, as well as marine spatial planning, can be enhanced by a holistic approach that considers both tangible and intangible socio-spatial data. Such an approach is likely to foster a more nuanced appreciation of what is valued in the landscape, providing greater insights to support sustainable long-term planning.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Things We Do and Don’t Understand About the Household and the Environment

Environmental economics has been slow to incorporate the full and complex nature of the household into its analytical structures and to reflect empirical evidence on household decision-making. This paper provides an overview of some of the main unanswered questions.