Are Production Decisions Decoupled under a Bond Scheme? Experimental Evidence

Experimental economics procedures were used to investigate impacts of a proposed bond scheme on production decisions. As expected, production with subsidy payments tied to a support price was substantially higher than with no policy. A shift from the support price to equivalent annual or lump-sum payments not tied to price resulted in production at or near no-policy levels, providing empirical evidence to support the theoretical prediction that bond schemes would not result in production distortions. Potential extensions to the basic model used in this study also are presented.     

Are real estate markets becoming more efficient?

This paper compares real rates of return to housing capital with returns to other forms of fixed reproducible capital. All data are from the national income and capital accounts and are gross of taxes and depreciation. Returns to housing capital have been consistently lower than those to other capital during the fifty-five year period for which data are available. Since 1950, the disparity between returns to housing and other capital has narrowed steadily and substantially. The paper presents speculations as to the reasons for the improvement in capital market efficiency.I am indebted to Robert Godrick and Daniel Siegel for comments on an earlier draft.     

Performance of residential mortgages in low and moderate-income neighborhoods

This paper presents the first data on performance of mortgages on residences located in lowand moderate-income neighborhoods of U.S. cities. It provides new data on delinquencies and foreclosure provided by a sample of lenders who are members of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders and who have lending programs established pursuant to the Community Reinvestment Act.Sample mortgages on multifamily dwellings perform comparably with national sample data, whereas sample mortgages on single-family mortgages perform much better than comparable national sample data.The findings of this paper demonstrate clearly that lending programs in lowand moderate-income neighborhoods can be viable. The findings do not, however, help to settle the issue as the racial or gender discrimination in mortgage origination.This paper is based on Performance Analysis of Community Reinvestment Programs, prepared by the athors for the Woodstock Institute, Chicago, IL.     

PERCEIVED DETERMINANTS OF HIGH AND LOW PRODUCTIVITY IN THREE OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS: A CRITICAL INCIDENT STUDY [1]

A critical incident study examined the factors perceived by employees to cause high and low productivity. One hundred and fifty-two employees from one firm, working in managerial, clerical, and professional jobs were interviewed. The interview responses were coded into factors within each of three broad categories: external events, agents, and personal traits. Generally, goals, deadlines or schedules, workload, and task interest were the most frequently mentioned events. The self, the organization, and the immediate supervisor were most often cited as agents. The most frequently mentioned personal traits were: satisfaction, pride, frustration, and desire for recognition. The implications of these findings for various schools of management thought are discussed.     

弄清楚你的住房按揭贷款

美国甚至全世界的房主在本轮国际金融危机前几年犯了太多的错误.这些错误中的大部分能被简化为一个基本的现象:人们借了太多的钱,甚至超过了他们的实际偿还能力.     

Crisis and recovery in office markets

From 1987 to 1993, U.S. office markets were in a depression similar in length and magnitude to that of the 1930s. Vacancy rates doubled, development nearly halted, and prices and rents fell precipitously. A disaster of this magnitude requires multiple causes. Poor tax policies in Washington were important causes, as was a pervasive tendency of developers and others to overforecast the growth of office employment. However, the difference between this and earlier postwar office recessions appears to be explained mostly by the effects of the microchip revolution, which entered a new phase starting in the mid-1980s. The paper concludes with relatively optimistic notes on the likely demand growth that will result from the new and improved services that the microchip revolution will permit.