In this study, we explore the role of expected cash flow volatility as a determinant of dividend policy. We first demonstrate that returns are increasing in dividend payout. But, we show that responses to changes in dividends are less sensitive to the magnitude of the change than to the sign of...

A firm can be viewed as a portfolio of projects arising from capital budgeting decisions. How these projects are bundled, i.e. managerial style, affects administrative costs and firm value. We analyze the effect of style on firm value using a panel data set of 75 publicly-traded REITs over eight...

This paper studies expectations of capital appreciation in the housing market. We show that expectations impounded in rent-to-price ratio at the beginning of the decade successfully predict appreciation rates, but only if we first control for fluctuations within a transactions and information...

We explore the dynamics of real house prices by estimating serial correlation and mean reversion coefficients from a panel data set of 62 metro areas from 1979-1995. The serial correlation and reversion parameters are then shown to vary cross sectionally with city size, real income growth,...

This paper studies expectations of capital appreciation in the housing market. We show that expectations impounded in the rent/price ratio at the beginning of the decade successfully predict appreciation rates, but only if we first control for cross-sectional differences in the quality of rental...

This research analyzes the dynamic properties of the difference equation that arises when markets exhibit serial correlation and mean reversion. We identify the correlation and reversion parameters for which prices will overshoot equilibrium (quot;cyclesquot;) and/or diverge permanently from...

This research hypothesizes that in markets where information costs, transactions costs and the economic impact of information can vary widely, we should expect both significant predictability and systematic variation in the predictability. Controlling for other factors, we find that on average,...

This research assesses the impact of income and property taxes on house prices using a decadal panel data set for 63 metropolitan areas from 1970 to 1990. We find that marginal income and property tax rates are fully capitalized into house prices and explain a significant proportion of the...

We document that technical progress in originating and pricing mortgages has enabled a trend since 1979 toward more relaxed credit standards on mortgage lending, which is reflected in rising foreclosure rates. We then decompose annual variation in mortgage performance measured by share of loans...

We explore the dynamics of real house prices by estimating serial correlation and mean reversion coefficients from a panel data set of 62 metro areas from 1979-1995. The serial correlation and reversion parameters are then shown to vary cross sectionally with city size, real income growth,...