Urban Land Development and its Prices: The Effects of Conversion Costs with Redevelopment

This paper analyzes urban land development when landowners anticipate a future large-scale redevelopment by a third party developer. Landowners' initial development activities can deter such redevelopment because they impose two conversion costs on the redeveloper: demolition costs and landowners' reservation prices. These costs are eventually borne by the landowners when the developers' market is competitive. For the landowners' initial development activities, we analyze both the efficient solution and the noncooperative solution under the Nash equilibrium. In both cases, the possibility of redevelopment results in a lower level of initial development due to the conversion costs, but increases land prices. However, the magnitude of their effects is smaller in the Nash solution due to an externality. The presence of such an externality provides a rationale for zoning and urban planning.     

The role of product type and country‐of‐origin in decisions about choice of endorser ethnicity in advertising

Two experiments examine the effects of endorser ethnicity and product country of origin on consumer responses toward ad and brand, and investigate the moderating role of utilitarian versus hedonic product type. In Experiment 1, for utilitarian products, participants showed more favorable responses when the endorser's ethnicity was incongruent with the product's country of origin compared to when it was congruent, supporting an attribution‐theory explanation. For hedonic products, however, participants preferred ads that featured an endorser whose ethnicity matched their own, irrespective of the product's country of origin. In Experiment 2, building on the attribution explanation, two endorsers of different ethnicities generated more favorable responses than two of the same ethnicity. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Nonparametric stochastic frontiers: A local maximum likelihood approach

This paper proposes a new approach to handle nonparametric stochastic frontier (SF) models. It is based on local maximum likelihood techniques. The model is presented as encompassing some anchorage parametric model in a nonparametric way. First, we derive asymptotic properties of the estimator for the general case (local linear approximations). Then the results are tailored to a SF model where the convoluted error term (efficiency plus noise) is the sum of a half normal and a normal random variable. The parametric anchorage model is a linear production function with a homoscedastic error term. The local approximation is linear for both the production function and the parameters of the error terms. The performance of our estimator is then established in finite samples using simulated data sets as well as with a cross-sectional data on US commercial banks. The methods appear to be robust, numerically stable and particularly useful for investigating a production process and the derived efficiency scores.     

RAM: A Range Adjusted Measure of Inefficiency for Use with Additive Models,and Relations to Other Models and Measures in DEA

Generalized Efficiency Measures (GEMS) for use in DEA are developed and analyzed in a context of differing models where they might be employed. The additive model of DEA is accorded a central role and developed in association with a new measure of efficiency referred to as RAM (Range Adjusted Measure). The need for separately treating input oriented and output oriented approaches to efficient measurement is eliminated because additive models effect their evaluations by maximizing distance from the efficient frontier (in ₁, or weighted ₁, measure) and thereby simultaneously maximize outputs and minimize inputs. Contacts with other models and approaches are maintained with theorems and accompanying proofs to ensure the validity of the thus identified relations. New criteria are supplied, both managerial and mathematical, for evaluating proposed measures. The concept of approximating models is used to further extend these possibilities. The focus of the paper is on the physical aspects of performance involved in technical and mix inefficiencies. However, an Appendix shows how overall, allocative and technical inefficiencies may be incorporated in additive models.     

Evaluating competitiveness of air cargo express services

This paper explores the relative importance of factors that influence the adoption of air express delivery service, and evaluates the competitiveness of air cargo express carriers in the Korean market. Our AHP analysis shows that accuracy and promptness are the two most influential factors to competitiveness, and that DHL is most competitive in the Korean market, followed by FedEx, TNT, EMS, and UPS. We further examine both the factor importance and carriers’ competitiveness from the perspective of service users. While accuracy and promptness remain as important factors, price becomes the most important factor. Finally, an importance–performance analysis for each carrier is conduced, and managerial implications are drawn.     

Japanese vocal intervention and the yen/dollar exchange rate

This paper examined the patterns of Japanese vocal intervention and its influence on the yen/dollar exchange rate using the daily data between January 2000 and August 2003. The major findings of this paper are as follows. First, vocal intervention that is leaning against the wind was found to be successful as opposed to lean-with-the-wind intervention which had mixed results in its effectiveness. Second, vocal intervention turned out to be more effective when it was intended for yen depreciation than for yen appreciation. Third, in the cases of leaning against the wind and yen depreciation intended interventions, the Japanese authorities normally relied on vocal intervention and engaged in actual intervention only when repeated vocal intervention proved ineffective.     

An Example of Data Technology Product: A Control Chart for Weibull Processes

This work proposes a new Shewhart-type control chart of the Weibull percentile (i.e. the reliable life) as a practical example of a product attained following the Data Technology (DT) approach. DT is briefly introduced as a new discipline defined apart from Information Technology (IT). Following this approach, some specific Bayes estimators are selected from literature and then used to build the above new chart. These estimators allow to improve the control making use of any available kind of data (statistical and non-statistical). The operative steps of DT approach are fully explained. The results are illustrated by means of a real applicative example.     

ICT Co-evolution and Korean ICT strategy—An analysis based on patent data

This paper investigates the interactive nature of relationships between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in terms of their technological innovations and diffusion. For the purpose, the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) database was used and Lotka-Volterra equations were applied to the patent data, resulting in a Patent Interaction Network (PIN). This matrix was employed to investigate the interaction patterns among ICT-related industries, allowing co-evolution process across ICTs to be analyzed. This paper also examined patenting activities in the Korean ICT sector, which has announced the IT839 strategy to address ICT-related services, infrastructures and growth drivers. It is judged that the evolving pattern of Koran ICT has been compatible with the PIN, facilitating the development of each other. It is also expected that promoting broadband and home-network technologies, together with technologies on digital contents and software solutions, can lead to the growth of the whole ICT industry. Such research findings will provide numerous implications for policy-making and strategic planning for ICT development.     

How does changing age distribution impact stock prices? A nonparametric approach

This paper examines whether variations in demographic structure have influenced stock prices. The study employs a nonparametric approach based on the Fourier Flexible Form representation, which relates variations in the entire age distribution to the normalized stock price under a flexible functional form. The main findings of this paper are that there is a significant impact from prime working‐age consumers on the stock price, and that this impact is robust for all G5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA). These findings survive many robust tests, and are consistent with the predictions from the life‐cycle models. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.