Depreciation-Related Capital Gains,Differential Tax Rates,and the Market Value of Real Estate Investment Trusts

We develop a model for valuing U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs) that considers the tax liability impounded in REITs’ property portfolios. This liability is a function of the portfolio’s accumulated depreciation and is driven by different tax rates applied to individual components of the total gain from property sales. These two components are the capital gain resulting from the sale of property at a price higher than its cost and the gain due to the recapture of depreciation taken during the use of the property. Our measure of value is the REIT’s net asset liquidation value (NALV). The metric of REIT value currently used by analysts is a REIT’s net asset value (NAV), but a REIT’s NAV will always be greater than the NALV and therefore overestimate market value, all else equal. Finally, using observed market prices for REITs, we provide evidence that NALVs give superior estimates of REIT market prices than do NAVs.     

Subperfect Game: Profitable Biases of NBA Referees

This paper empirically investigates three hypotheses regarding biases of National Basketball Association referees. Identification of basketball referee bias is typically difficult as changes in observed statistics may be caused by either changes in referee bias or player behavior. We identify bias by exploiting the fact that referees have varying degrees of discretion over different types of a particular statistic‐turnovers. This allows us to conduct a treatment and control‐style analysis, using the less discretionary turnovers as the player behavior control. The results provide evidence that referees favor home teams, teams losing during games, and teams losing in playoff series. All three biases are likely to increase consumer demand.     

What can we learn from Switzerland?

The collapse of Swissair will be a good litmus test for what is advanced here. Although it is too soon to tell at the time of writing (October 2001) it would be extremely uncharacteristic for the company to be rescued with public funds, despite its hugely symbolic nature as an erstwhile source of national pride.     

Empirical implementation of nonparametric first-price auction models

Nonparametric estimators provide a flexible means of uncovering salient features of auction data. Although these estimators are popular in the literature, many key features necessary for proper implementation have yet to be uncovered. Here we provide several suggestions for nonparametric estimation of first-price auction models. Specifically, we show how to impose monotonicity of the equilibrium bidding strategy; a key property of structural auction models not guaranteed in standard nonparametric estimation. We further develop methods for automatic bandwidth selection. Finally, we discuss how to impose monotonicity in auctions with differing numbers of bidders, reserve prices, and auction-specific characteristics. Finite sample performance is examined using simulated data as well as experimental auction data.     

The unemployment experience of male immigrants in England

In this paper the unemployment experience of immigrant men in the English labour market is examined, using 1993–1994 data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey of the United Kingdom. Hypotheses proposed by Chiswick (1982) are investigated, for both the claimant count and the ILO measures of unemployment, using logistic regression analysis. Our results show that recent white and nonwhite immigrant men experience much higher levels of unemployment than earlier cohorts. For whites, this effect is transitory, whereas for nonwhites unemployment rates adjust more slowly as the duration of stay increases. Immigrant unemployment rates also vary considerably with country of birth.     

UK utilities: Past reform and current proposals

Utilities in the UK have undergone dramatic reform in the past fifteen years. This paper assesses the outcome by reviewing previously published work and introducing some new evidence, and assesses the UK Government's 1998 proposed reforms. We outline the impact of change of ownership, re-regulation and introducing competition on efficiency, investment, quality of service, prices and equity. We conclude that these reforms can yield benefits if they are undertaken within a clear framework of wider social and environmental benefits. Initial regulation in the UK has not always satisfied these criteria, and we welcome the government's proposed reforms, with some caveats     

Are Individual Investors Influenced by the Optimism and Credibility of Stock Spam Recommendations?

This study examines attention‐driven investment decisions using a sample of firms essentially unknown to investors prior to becoming the target of a stock spam campaign. We show that the market reaction to spam varies predictably with the content of the spam message. Spam date returns and volume are significantly higher for stocks targeted by spam emails containing optimistic target price projections bundled with ostensibly credible information quoted from a previously issued company press release. There is also some evidence that disclaimers in spam messages reduce, but do not eliminate, the market response. Attention effects also contribute to spammers’ selection of stocks to target and to spam‐related enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission.     

商品房价格的影响因素及对策思考——基于上高县的调查分析

住房问题是重要的民生问题,加强房地产市场调控、保持商品房价格的合理水平,一直是人们普遍关注、关心的问题。课题组深入上高县房地产开发商、房管局、统计局等部门,对城区商品房价格情况进行了调查。从调研的情况来看,上高城区商品房价格总体呈现高位平稳运行态势,政策调控仍需继续坚持,应在分析影响商品房价格因素的基础上,研究控制其价格过快上涨的具体措施。     

Representing Mountains: From Local and National to Global Common Good

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, mountains have acquired global recognition as a specific issue in the promotion of sustainable development policies. Starting from the traditional roles of mountains for local societies and in modern geopolitics, this paper analyses the status that mountains have been acquiring though globalisation, and the modes of global mobilisation and recognition that have taken shape since 1992. Particular attention is given to the role of scientists, international organisations, some mountainous states, and “mountain people”. The specific characteristics of this process are discussed and compared to those pertinent to other goods, especially ‘geographical’ or ‘ecological’ goods such as tropical forests and Antarctica. Though the globalisation of mountain issues is part of a wider process of the recognition of environmental and cultural goods at a global level, it may be seen as the first example of a new category of global common good: “global common regions” or “glocal common good”.     

A Case for a Partially Disaggregated Theory of Inflation

Approaches to economic development have overemphasized negative economic freedom for multinational corporations at the expense of a majority of the population in developing countries. An inevitable outcome has been the growth of informal sector and "vulnerable" employment in developing countries and entrenchment of existing inequalities. We argue that rather than an emphasis on negative freedom, an emphasis on using labor standards to facilitate positive economic freedom must occur. Labor standards do this not only through the "core" rights of union membership and collective bargaining, but also in addressing substantive ("non-core") rights at work (wages, working-time, etc.), thereby facilitating positive freedom.