Neighborhood effects of concentrated mortgage foreclosures

As the national mortgage crisis has worsened, an increasing number of communities are facing declining housing prices and high rates of foreclosure. Central to the call for government intervention in this crisis is the claim that foreclosures not only hurt those who are losing their homes to foreclosure, but also harm neighbors by reducing the value of nearby properties and in turn, reducing local governments’ tax bases. The extent to which foreclosures do in fact drive down neighboring property values has become a crucial question for policy-makers. In this paper, we use a unique dataset on property sales and foreclosure filings in New York City from 2000 to 2005 to identify the effects of foreclosure starts on housing prices in the surrounding neighborhood. Regression results suggest that above some threshold, proximity to properties in foreclosure is associated with lower sales prices. The magnitude of the price discount increases with the number of properties in foreclosure, but not in a linear relationship.     

Achieving sustainable cost transformation

Means for hospitals and health systems to achieve necessary, sustainable cost transformation include: Using a structured approach with rigorous analysis. Understanding the organization's capital position and quantifing the shortfall. Identifing potential savings sources. Using internal and external benchmarks. Ensuring integration of cost-reduction targets with organizational plans and budget.     

Do Homeowners Mark to Market? A Comparison of Self‐Reported and Estimated Market Home Values During the Housing Boom and Bust

This article examines homeowners’ self‐reported values in the American Housing Survey and the Health and Retirement Study from the start of the recent housing price run‐ups through recent price declines. We compare ZIP‐Code‐level market‐based estimates of housing prices to those derived from homeowners’ self‐reported values. We show that there are systematic differences which vary with market conditions and the amount of equity owners hold in their homes. When prices have fallen, homeowners systematically state that their homes are worth more than market estimates suggest, and homeowners with little or no equity in their homes state values above the market estimates to a greater degree. Over time, homeowners appear to adjust their assessments to be more in line with past market trends, but only slowly. Our results suggest that underwater borrowers are likely to understate their losses and either may not be aware that their mortgages are underwater or underestimate the degree to which they are.     

The future of work and family: Critical trends for policy,practice, and research

Work/life “thought leaders” from 28 large corporations carried out an environmental scanning process with the objective of linking work/life policies and practices to critical business and environmental trends. Globalization, technological change, and organizational flexibility are trends that have been commonly identified in other environmental scanning efforts, but their relationship to work/life issues has often been ignored. Similarly, the relationship of changing family structures to business goals has not received the attention it deserves. Through this linking process, work/life advocates can demonstrate the value of their efforts to other corporate decision makers. Innovative corporate work/life initiatives that are responsive to these important trends are described. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Communicating With Employees: Building on an Ethical Foundation

The paradigm of work and the formal organizations within which people work are changing. Trends in organizations include less hierarchy, integrated structures, empowered employees, teams and teamwork, labor-management partnerships, and myriad other changes. Underlying all these changes is a new emphasis on values regarding how organizations function. Among the critical organizational functions to which the values framework applies is communication.Most models of internal organizational communication are adaptations of the existing model for communicating externally. These models fall short of what is needed to impact today's employees.The model presented in this paper is based on seventeen years of work in the transformation of large, complex organizations. Comparing classic models and theories of organizations with the characteristics and needs of high performance systems led to the development of a values-based, employee-driven communication model. The model includes a comparison of communication in both kinds of systems in terms of purposes, principles (The Seven Cs), content, and techniques.