This paper presents a game theoretic model of property tax assessment that allows a tax appraiser to either choose a high or a low assessment. The owner either accepts or challenges this assessment. A ‘‘fixed effects’’ regression model is used to evaluate the...

This article groups the remarks of a multiple listing service listing into common themes and then uses a hedonic pricing model to determine whether such comments are priced in a meaningful way. The comments provide information on the motivation of the seller, location of the property and...

This study examines the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) policies that culminated in Order 636 in 1992. The regulatory environment in which natural gas distribution utilities operate was altered. FERC policies forced local gas distribution utilities...

In developing countries of tourist destinations, an increase in medical tourism raises the wages in the medical tourism sector, thereby retaining skilled medical workers who otherwise leave the country. However, the expansion of medical tourism contracts the domestic healthcare services sector,...

Statistical results from this study generally support the Stigler-Peltzman theory of regulation. The only finding not consistent with Peltzman's formulation of the theory is that electd officials are more likely to favor procompetitive policies than appointed officials. Peltzman has argued this...

Using a dual structure depicting a developing economy, this paper shows that an increase in asset inequality can lead to wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labor. In addition, increasing asset inequality raises the luxury goods price and hence the unemployment ratio. These effects...

For a developing economy with a given urban wage rate, globalization in capital markets strengthens labor unions. This result hinges on the fixed urban wage rate, which leads to a constant capital--labor ratio in the urban sector. Globalization via capital inflows not only enhances the...

This paper studies the impact of pay fairness on factor income and social welfare in a developing economy with both modern urban and traditional rural sectors. When urban workers become aware of income fairness, they use the expected urban wage and weighted average returns to capitalists as...

Using recent theoretical advances and an extensive panel data set on metropolitan areas, this study provides new tests of the contingent claims based model of default. The empirical modeling incorporates a full complement of variables that permit direct tests of the options-based model including...

The appraisal of the "market value" of homes serving as the collateral for mortgages is a fundamental part of the underwriting process. If a loan should default, however, it is not the retail market value that the lender obtains, but rather the "recovery value." In this research, we show how...