We examine the capital market pricing implications of firm disclosure opacity as measured by the linguistic readability of REIT annual reports. The SEC has expressed concern that firms selectively manage the transparency of disclosures in order to hide adverse information. After controlling for...

This paper investigates the determinants of underwriting fees charged to active GSE and financial industry borrowers on debt issuances, how such fees change over time, and how they vary with the characteristics of the debt, underwriting mechanism, and issuer. We pay particular attention to how...

Although numerous studies investigate how student achievement is impacted by educational vouchers and charter schools, there appears to be no research on how these programs impact the surrounding environment. This study examines residential relocation of families whose children attend a charter...

Purpose: This paper examines whether rental premiums accrue to environmentally certified class “A” office buildings, and further, to what extent such premiums vary with the political ideology of the local market area.Design/Methodology/Approach: Using standard OLS regression techniques, we...

Relationships play a central role across the spectrum of real estate transactions. Whether negotiating prices, securing funding, or acquiring permits, knowing the right people provides multiple channels to facilitate deal making. To better understand the role of relationships in real estate...

Recent evidence confirms that in factor-model examinations of the cross-section of REIT returns, REIT momentum emerges as the dominant driver. Acknowledging the importance of momentum, the current study explores whether and how REIT return patterns are linked to the underlying characteristics of...

Conventional wisdom in the mortgage industry holds that loan-to-value (LTV) ratios are positively correlated with mortgage default rates. However, not all empirical studies of mortgage loan performance support this view. This paper offers a theoretical signaling model of why the correlation...

Using a sample of 26,892 rate quotes on home purchase loan applications, the current paper investigates interstate variation in residential mortgage interest rates. More specifically, we find posted rate quotes by lenders are directly related to measures of foreclosure process risk including the...

This study examines the herding behavior of individuals in the context of their willingness to strategically default on a mortgage based on the (falsely) observed behavior of those around them. We find that homeowners are easily persuaded to follow the herd and adopt a strategic default...