Changes in REIT Liquidity 1988?C2007: Evidence from Daily Data

In this study, we present panel-data evidence on REIT liquidity and its determinants over the 1988?C2007 period. We focus upon liquidity measures that do not require micro-structure data (1) to facilitate use of our results as benchmarks for comparisons with results from international markets for which micro-structure data may be unavailable, (2) to provide benchmarks that do not require access to costly (and voluminous) micro-structure data. We find that REIT liquidity improved during the early and mid-1990s, deteriorated during the late 1990s, and then improved dramatically during 2000?C2006, with the notable exception of 2007. Liquidity improved the most for REITs traded on the NYSE, and was an order of magnitude better than liquidity of REITs traded on the AMEX or NASDAQ. We link the deterioration in liquidity observed in 2007 to the investment portfolio of a REIT. We find that the percentage bid-ask spread is highly correlated with the measure of price impact proposed by Amihud (2002). We provide panel-data evidence on the key determinants of the percentage bid-ask spread that largely confirms the results reported by Bhasin et al. (1997) for 1990 and 1994: the percentage spread is a positive function of the volatility of stock returns, and a negative function of dollar volume turnover, share price and market capitalization. Finally, we provide evidence that these results obtained using daily closing bid- and ask-prices are not qualitatively different from those obtained using market micro-structure data. This suggests that we can use liquidity measures based upon readily available daily return data rather than being forced to rely upon market micro-structure data.     

Palliative Care: Wie messbar ist die Qualität?

Pflegestandards versus individuelle Pflege — In der Palliativpflege genügen die herk?mmlichen Qualit?tsma?st?be nicht. Denn hier geht es um Beziehungen, Trauer, Liebe, Leben, existentielle Fragen und Krisen. Das kann mit Uhren, Ma?b?ndern, Waagen, Skalen und Tabellen nicht erfasst werden. Ein Zwischenruf von Susanne Kr?nzle.     

Managing the well-being of temporary skilled migrants

The war for talent, whereby skilled workers move between countries, continues to remain a global issue. This paper is informed by the human resource management (HRM) literature on global careers of skilled migrants and their cross-cultural adjustment and well-being. These literatures draw on human capital theory to understand skilled migration. In this paper, a case study of Western Australia's answer to addressing skills shortages by employing skilled migrant workers through temporary skilled migration schemes (employer-sponsored) situates the discussion within the role of HRM. Temporary skilled migrants are vulnerable in that they can experience a number of stressors, including long periods of separation from their loved ones, commencing a new job in an alien environment and resettlement tasks. The paper makes a contribution in utilising Al Ariss and Syed's (2011) model of human capital drawing on social, cultural, economic and symbolic forms of currency for temporary skilled migrants. This group is not homogenous in that they all draw on these aspects of human capital in varying ways. By addressing the gaps, HRM can add value in providing assimilation strategies for temporary migrant workers that supports retention and ensures improved worker well-being.     

Optimal taxes on wealth and consumption in the presence of tax evasion

This article incorporates tax evasion into an optimum taxation framework with individuals differing in earning abilities and initial wealth. We find that despite the possibility of its evasion a tax on initial wealth should supplement the optimal nonlinear income tax, given a positive correlation between initial wealth and earning abilities. Further, even if income and initial wealth are taxed optimally, it is still desirable to levy a tax on commodities, though it can be evaded as well. Thus, our result provides a rationale for a comprehensive tax system. Optimal tax rates on commodities differ in general, however for the special case of a uniform evasion technology equal rates are optimal if preferences are homothetic and weakly separable.     

Risk and Return in the U.S. Housing Market: A Cross-Sectional Asset-Pricing Approach

This article carries out an asset-pricing analysis of the U.S. metropolitan housing market. We use ZIP code–level housing data to study the cross-sectional role of volatility, price level, stock market risk and idiosyncratic volatility in explaining housing returns. While the related literature tends to focus on the dynamic role of volatility and housing returns within submarkets over time, our risk–return analysis is cross-sectional and covers the national U.S. metropolitan housing market. The study provides a number of important findings on the asset-pricing features of the U.S. housing market. Specifically, we find (i) a positive relation between housing returns and volatility, with returns rising by 2.48% annually for a 10% rise in volatility, (ii) a positive but diminishing price effect on returns and (iii) that stock market risk is priced directionally in the housing market. Our results on the return-volatility-price relation are robust to (i) metropolitan statistical area clustering effects and (ii) differences in socioeconomic characteristics among submarkets related to income, employment rate, managerial employment, owner-occupied housing, gross rent and population density.     

A Non-Iterative Bayesian Approach to Statistical Matching

Data fusion or statistical matching techniques merge datasets from different survey samples to achieve a complete but artificial data file which contains all variables of interest. The merging of datasets is usually done on the basis of variables common to all files, but traditional methods implicitly assume conditional independence between the variables never jointly observed given the common variables. Therefore we suggest using model based approaches tackling the data fusion task by more flexible procedures. By means of suitable multiple imputation techniques, the identification problem which is inherent in statistical matching is reflected. Here a non-iterative Bayesian version of Rubin's implicit regression model is presented and compared in a simulation study with imputations from a data augmentation algorithm as well as an iterative approach using chained equations.     

Rationality without Transitivity

In this article rational choice behavior is investigated without assuming transitivity or completeness of the underlying preferences. These standard properties are replaced by a property concerning dominant alternatives. This permits the existence of preference cycles among alternatives which are dominated, while still ensuring the existence of a rational choice correspondence. We will also realize that some rational choice rules still hold in this context. Further we will see that in equilibrium analysis the existence of a competitive equilibrium follows when transitivity and completeness is replaced by this domination property.     

Integrating the valuation of ecosystem services into the Input-Output economics of an Alpine region

Traditional economic accounting mostly ignores the benefits provided by nature, and thus falls short in giving incentives for improving the way the economy uses natural resources. In this study, we develop a general framework for integrating the value of ecosystem services into an Input-Output Table. In particular, we integrate regionally valued ecosystem services on the supply side of an Input-Output Table to quantify what natural resources offer to economic development. Using several different indicators, we show the benefits of the ecosystem services under the status quo and a scenario for regional development. Our results suggest that economic activities should be encouraged to use the ecosystem services more intensively, while landscape development should aim at providing the required services. We conclude that such an approach can provide a platform for decision-makers to learn quantitatively about the dependency of the regional economy on natural services.     

Financial participation and recruitment and retention: causes and consequences

Using a sample of over 5000 establishments in Germany, we analyze the antecedents and effects of profit sharing (PS) and employee share ownership (ESO) with respect to the ability of firms to meet their recruitment and retention objectives and to achieve employment growth. We draw on both economic and behavioral perspectives to argue that firms that adopt PS and ESO plans do so in order to attract and retain employees. Using logistic regression and a propensity score matching technique, we find that firms that face higher recruitment problems, and those that have greater employment growth objectives, are more likely to use ESO and PS. Unlike ESO, PS enhances firm-level employment growth. However, neither ESO nor PS help firms to fully resolve recruitment and retention problems.