Euro area private consumption: Is there a role for housing wealth effects

This paper adds to the literature on wealth effects on consumption by disentangling financial wealth effects from housing wealth effects for the euro area. We use two macro-datasets for our estimations, one on the aggregate euro area for the period 1980-2006, and one on the individual euro area countries from1995-2006, using panel data techniques. The impact of all wealth variables on euro area consumption is significant and positive in most specifications for both datasets. The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of financial wealth is roughly in line with the literature, with 2.4 to 3.6 cents per euro of financial wealth spent on consumption according to the estimations with euro area aggregate data. However, the panel estimation yields somewhat lower results (0.6 to 1.1 cents). The MPC out of nominal housing wealth lies between 0.7 to 0.9 cents per euro for both datasets. When specifying housing wealth in real terms, i.e. when taking out the effect of volatile house prices, we find similar effects in the times series estimation while the MPC is larger in the panel estimation (2.5 cents). JEL Classification: E21Consumption, euro area, financial wealth, housing wealth

The Impact of Collusion on Price Behavior: Empirical Results from Two Recent Cases

We used extensions of traditional ARCH and GARCH models to examine the difference in the behavior of the first two moments of the price distribution during collusion and the absence of it using prices from two recently discovered conspiracies, citric acid and lysine. According to our results, the citric acid conspiracy increased prices by 9 cents per pound relative to pre-cartel and post-cartel periods. The lysine conspiracy managed to raise prices by 25 cents per pound. In addition, the variance of prices during the lysine conspiracy was lower than the variance of prices during pre-cartel and post-cartel periods as we expected. In contrast, the variance of prices during the citric acid conspiracy was higher relative to more competitive periods.Demand and Price Analysis,

Exploring Respondent’s Perception of Bid Precision in Non-Market Valuation

Bid design is an important component of the nonmarket valuation process. To date, no research has been done on the possible effects of using round dollar amounts. It seems reasonable to believe that respondents may respond to round dollar amounts differently than they would respond to bids that include both dollar and cent amounts. One possibility is that the respondent may infer that the dollar/cent bids are more precise estimates of the true cost than the round dollar amount, and therefore put more thought into their response to survey questions. In order to explore this idea, we test whether the use of a precise versus imprecise bid design influences respondent’s willingness to pay. In particular, our sample of survey recipients was stratified into two groups based on whether they were presented with imprecise or precise bids (round dollar bids or dollar/cent bids). Precise bids were generated by adding or subtracting a randomly-drawn number of cents (between -200 and +200 cents) to each of the imprecise bid levels. We explore this issue in the context of a valuation project concerned with The Battle of Lexington State Historic Site in Lexington, MO.

Valuation Studies? Our Collective Two Cents

This article presents the results of a poll made among the members of the editorial and advisory boards of Valuation Studies. The purpose is to overview the topic that is the remit of the new journal. The poll focused on three questions: 1. Why is the study of valuation topical? 2. What specific issues related to valuation are the most pressing ones to explore? 3. What sites and methods would be interesting for studying valuation? The answers to these questions provided by sixteen board members form the basis of the article. Based on these answers, it identifies a number of themes concerning the study of valuation, elaborating on the rationale for attending to valuation, the conceptual challenges linked to this, and the specific issues and sites that deserve further attention

The Costs of Conflict Resolution and Financial Distress: Evidence from the Texaco-Pennzoil Litigation

This paper uses data on the abnormal returns earned by the shareholders of Texaco and Pennzoil to examine whether resources were "lost" in the course of the litigation. We find that the leakage involved in the forced transfer is enormous: each dollar of value lost by Texaco's shareholders has been matched by only about 30 cents gain to the owners of Pennzoil. Our estimates suggest that the Texaco-Pennzoil conflict has reduced the combined equity value of the two companies by about $2 billion. Further losses have been suffered by Texaco's bondholders, though these may be offset by the tax collections that would result if Texaco made a large payment to Pennzoil.

The Geography of Giving: The Effect of Corporate Headquarters on Local Charities

We use data on the locations of the head offices of publicly traded U.S. firms to study the impact of corporate headquarters on the receipts of local charitable organizations. Cities like Houston, San Jose, and San Francisco gained significant numbers of corporate headquarters over the past two decades, while cities like Chicago and Los Angeles lost. Our analysis suggests that attracting or retaining the headquarters of an average firm yields approximately $10 million per year in contributions to local non-profits, while the headquarters of a larger firm (one ranked among the top 1000 in total market value) yields about$25 million per year. Likewise, we find that each $1000 increase in the market value of the firms headquartered in a city yields 70 cents or more to local non-profits. Most of the increase in charitable contributions arises from an effect on the number of highly-compensated individuals in a city, rather than through direct donations by the corporations themselves