Housing Supply,Demand and Price: Construction Cost,Rental Price and House Price Indices

Housing prices are subject to the impacts of supply as well as demand. While supply is affected by construction costs, demand is determined by the renting/buying considerations of the public. As a result, the construction cost index (CCI) on the supply side and the rental price index (RPI) on the demand side should be closely related to the house price index (HPI). The present study adopts three price indices of the Taiwan housing market, the CCI, the RPI and the HPI, and examines long‐term and short‐term correlations among the three indices. Empirical results indicate that the relationships among three indices are nonlinear. More interestingly, this article finds that the HPI stimulates changes in the CCI and the RPI, although construction costs and rent are viewed as fundamentals in the existing literature. This phenomenon is rather obvious when deviations of the latter two indices from the HPI are greater. The corrective behavior of the HPI is more notable under these circumstances.     

The calculation of capital requirement using Extreme Value Theory

The Basel Committee has suggested some formulas for calculating capital requirement using the Advanced Internal Ratings-Based Approach. However, these formulas were derived under the assumption of a normal distribution. Thus, the capital requirement estimated by the Basel formula may be incorrect when the asset distributions are not normal. Using an analysis of qualifying revolving retail exposures as an example, this paper introduces a formula based on the Extreme Value Theory to calculate the capital requirement. This formula is more general and accurate than its predecessors, because it can be used with any type of distribution. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that the capital requirement estimated by the Basel formula is less than by our formula when the asset distribution has a heavy tail, and more than by our formula when the distribution has a short tail. Our formula is also more sensitive to risk than competing models in the context of the recent financial crisis.     

Position matters when we stand together: a linguistic perspective on composite brand extensions

Composite branding extensions, wherein two existing brands ally themselves to create a composite brand name and enter a different product category, have become a common way to introduce a new product. An important managerial issue is deciding how to position the two brand names within the expression to communicate this alliance to consumers. Drawing on linguistic theories, this research explores how consumers may interpret different composite brand expressions relative to the positions of the two brand names in the expressions. We find that the brand in the initial position of most expressions is perceived as more closely associated with, and more responsible for the extension product than the other brand in the alliance. This perceived responsibility is also influenced by the perceived relative brand strengths, or the marketing abilities of both brands.     

Culinary tourism strategic development: an Asia‐Pacific perspective

Many destinations view their food and cuisine as a market niche. Operating within the Asia‐Pacific perspective, this study analyzed the key success factors in culinary tourism based on resource‐based theory in seven benchmark countries to identify the structure of promotional strategic development in culinary tourism. The methodology primarily involved in‐depth interviews and document analyses. The results identified four key success factors: (i) identifying and effectively using culinary tourism resources; (ii) evaluating governmental principles for promoting culinary tourism; (iii) adopting marketing strategies to promote culinary cultural sectors; and (iv) constructing educational environment for culinary culture and tourism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Place Attachment and Tourism Marketing: Investigating International Tourists in Singapore

The notion of place attachment has been evidenced impactful on enhancing the performance of tourism marketing. However, the theoretical development of place attachment characterizes obvious diversities. The current study integrates and reconfigures these diversities to propose the Strategic Management of Place Attachment model. According to the model, a comprehensive attachment‐nurturing foundation is constituted by holistic tourist experience, which contains emotional pleasure, cognitive stimulation, psychological growth, self‐expressiveness and communal awareness. Place attachment, nurtured upon such foundation, converts into a powerful driver of the tourist's revisit behavior. Noteworthy insights and implications are provided to put the notion of place attachment to best use for tourism marketing. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using Richardson extrapolation techniques to price American options with alternative stochastic processes

In this paper the authors investigate the performance of the original and repeated Richardson extrapolation methods for American option pricing by implementing both the original and modified Geske?CJohnson approximation formulae. A comprehensive numerical comparison includes alternative stochastic processes of the underlying asset price. The numerical results show that whether the original or modified formula is implemented, the Richardson extrapolation techniques work very well. The repeated Richardson extrapolation strongly outperforms the original, especially when the underlying asset price follows a stochastic volatility process. Moreover, this study verifies the feasibility of the estimated error bounds of the American option prices under alternative stochastic processes by applying the repeated Richardson extrapolation method and estimating the interval of true American option values, as well as determining the number of options needed for an approximation to achieve a desired accuracy level.     

Counterfeiting, enforcement and social welfare

This paper uses a vertical product differentiation model to discuss the influences caused by counterfeiting on prices and outputs of original products, consumer surplus and social welfare. We also explore the impact of the government??s enforcement on counterfeiting and social welfare. We find that as counterfeiting may occur, sales of the original product could either increase or decrease. The welfare effects of government enforcement are shown as follows. First, a strict enforcement on counterfeiting by government may either increase or decrease welfare. Second, when counterfeiting emerges, welfare under a stricter enforcement is not necessarily larger than that without enforcement. Last, a strict enough enforcement can still improve welfare even if there is a relatively high enforcement cost.     

Inward and outward foreign direct investment and poverty: East Asia vs. Latin America

Using panel data of 12 middle-income countries in East Asia as well as Latin America, this paper examines how openness in general and outward FDI in particular affects poverty. While economic growth and trade openness are found to be associated with lower poverty, both outward and inward FDI adversely affect the mean income of the poorest quintile of the population. The results hold in both regions, though the Latin American countries seem to be in a somewhat less favorable situation.     

Political risk assessment on air logistics hub developments in Taiwan

Political risk assessment has long been practiced by multinational corporations, but has been rarely used for air performance reviews. This study is a political risk assessment of the development of an air logistics hub in Taiwan, and thus examines the factors leading to physical property losses of air carriers based at the hub. It utilizes a checklist and a brainstorming session to identify risk factors, a 5×5 risk matrix to undertake a qualitative risk survey, and an analytical hierarchy process to assess the risk. The study concludes that micro- and macro-factors are approximately of equal importance to the development of an air hub in Taiwan. Issues relating to inland vehicle parking, air logistics infrastructure developments and the cross-strait relationship appear to be particularly crucial.     

Urban and population decentralization policies: the experience of Taiwan,R.O.C.

The policies that have been successfully implemented in Taiwan to minimize the impact of urbanization and to slow the pace of population concentration are described. Consideration is given to policies designed to affect spatial distribution both directly and indirectly.