A Methodology for Constructing Vacant Land Price Indices

Existing estimates of movements in vacant land prices are limited to a few metropolitan areas and infrequent time intervals. This paper develops a new methodology for estimating vacant land price trends for subareas within states and metropolitan areas. It utilizes data from a sales ratio study, a large database available in most states. The methodology uses assessed value to control for "hedonic characteristics" associated with the property and its location. A model is developed to correct assessed value for measurement errors. Statistical results for forty-one Connecticut towns indicate that the model provides a reasonable compromise between data availability and accuracy of price trend estimates.     

PUBLIC GOOD PROVISION AND THE COMPARATIVE STATICS OF OPTIMAL NONLINEAR INCOME TAXATION*

Comparative static properties of the solution to an optimal nonlinear income tax problem are provided for a model in which the government both designs an income tax schedule for redistributive purposes and provides a public good optimally. There are two types of individuals, distinguished by their skill levels, who have the same quasilinear preferences for labor supply and the consumption of a private and a public good. Comparative statics are obtained for the weights in a weighted utilitarian social welfare function, the prices of the two goods, a taste parameter that measures the onerousness of working, and the skill levels.     

Performance analysis of a focused hospital unit: The case of an integrated trauma center

The concept of focus [Skinner, W., 1974. The focused factory. Harvard Business Review 52 (3), 113–121], notably operationalized in manufacturing entities like cells and focused factories, has also been adopted by the health care industry. Examples include patient-focused care systems and product/service lines. Despite its longevity, there is a paucity of studies analyzing the focus concept and its link to performance, especially in health care. This research is aimed at enhancing our understanding of how a focus-based approach to organization redesign in health care affects processes and practices, and what operational, clinical, and financial outcomes result from such a change. The research setting is a single case site within a large medical center for which costs for trauma care used to exceed income. Using a structured framework, we document the design and operation of this physically and organizationally integrated Level I trauma care center and compare it to its preceding operation. Its pre- and post-conversion performance is analyzed using symmetric event windows covering three-year periods before and after the focused hospital unit (FHU) was established. Under a sizable increase in workload, we find no change in mortality, moderate improvement in length of stay, and a large improvement in net operating margins. Surprisingly, the latter stem not from reductions in cost but in sharply increased hospital reimbursements. Previous studies of hospital restructuring involving focused patient populations have not conclusively supported a positive link between focus and outcomes. However, this investigation of a specific FHU suggests, conceptually as well as quantitatively, that focus can be an attractive element in health care system design.     

drupa2008新趋势

和往届一样,drupa2008即将举办,drupa包括了工作流程,通过胶版印刷和数码印刷方式进行的网络到打印服务器,包装产品和印后加工等各种主题。聪明的商家会选择在drupa的同时发布他们的主要产品．毫无疑问这将是“了解所有”以及为自己的商业计划搜集重要情报的最佳时机。然而．即使你将两周漫长时间中的每一个小时都用在德国杜塞尔多夫的众多展厅中．     

Research collaboration and behavioural additionality: A New Zealand case study

Generating the greatest benefit from public research programmes is a major aim for industry managers and policy administrators alike. However, how to measure whether benefit has occurred createsf a considerable dilemma for managers and policy-makers. One approach centres upon the concept of 'additionality' or 'what difference the policy has made'. Traditional 'input additionality' measures of subsequent research and development activity, for example, neither incorporate all impacts nor give adequate signals about adequate signals about aspects of 'output additionality', such as the impact on increased competitiveness at the level of the firm, or national competitiveness, the ultimate goal for the majority of research policies. An intermediate form of impact, 'behavioural additionality', centred upon changes in a firm's subsequent managerial behaviour, is considered to provide an alternative, yet compelling perspective on the impact of public support on the conduct of research. This study outlines empirical eveidence found for the various forms of additionality in a New Zealand collaborative research programme. It discusses how managers and policy administrators can exploit the occrrence of behavioural additionality to maximize the impact of a research policy, on the basis that modified behaviour is likely to strengthen a policy' latent abilityto influence the creation of output additionality. In such circumstances, the study suggests that managers and policy-makers should be identifying those interventions that lead to sustained improvements in mangerial practice, and in competitiveness, and should be managing their diffusion within firms and throughout industries.     

Price determinants in top-quality e-auctioned specialty coffees

We analyze the price determinants of specialty coffees traded at e-auctions. We hypothesize that since specialty coffees are a highly differentiated product, prices will be determined by both sensory and reputation attributes. To test our hypotheses, we estimate a hedonic price function using data from Central and South American e-auctions and calculate the implicit prices of sensory and reputation attributes. The results show that market clearing prices are a function of sensory characteristics and reputation variables including third-party quality ranking, country of origin, coffee variety, and quantity. The additional attribute information disclosed at e-auctions results in substantially higher prices relative to conventional commodity coffee market prices.     

MONEY,OUTPUT AND INFLATION IN AFRICAN ECONOMIES1

This paper examines the long‐run money‐inflation relation for 36 African countries using cross‐section and panel data analysis. The focus is on the recent claim by De Grauwe and Polan that the common finding in multi‐country studies of a strong positive link typically reflects the presence of high‐inflation countries in the sample and on Nelson's criticisms of the data and methodology employed in that study. Adjusting the De Grauwe and Polan methodology to take account of many of Nelson's criticisms, I confirm a weak long‐run relation between money growth and inflation for countries when money growth and inflation are below 10%, but a strong relation when money growth and inflation move much above that number. This result is not dependent on the inclusion of high inflation countries in the cross‐section and panel data samples.     

Investment decisions and internal capital markets: Evidence from acquisitions

In this paper, we examine the workings of internal capital markets in diversified firms that engage in related and unrelated corporate acquisitions. Our evidence indicates that bidders invest outside their core business (diversify) when the cash flows of their core business fall behind those of their non-core lines of business. However, bidders invest inside their core business (i.e., undertake non-diversifying investments) when their core business experiences superior cash flows. We also find that bidders whose core business are in industries with low growth prospects engage in diversifying acquisitions while bidders whose core business are in high growth industries undertake non-diversifying acquisitions. The pre-acquisition evidence, then, suggests that firms tend to diversify when the cash flows and the growth opportunities of their core business are considerably lower than those of their non-core business. Subsequent to acquisitions we find that diversifying bidders continue to allocate financial resources from less profitable business segments (i.e., core business) to more profitable business segments (i.e., non-core business). Given the low profitability of diversifying bidders’ core business, this capital resource allocation suggests that diversification increases do not result in capital allocation inefficiencies. The evidence for non-diversifying bidders, however, supports the existence of “corporate socialism” in the sense that there is transfer of funds from the profitable (core) to the less profitable (non-core) business segments in multi-segment bidders. We find that the capital expenditures of bidders’ non-core business segments rely on both core and non-core cash flows.