An Estimation of Elasticities of Consumption Demand and Investment Demand for Owner-Occupied Housing in Taiwan : A Two-Period Model

Buying a house usually satisfies housing consumption demand and housing investment demand, simultaneously. In order to disentangle the above two types of demand, households, in this study, are separated into three subtenure groups i.e. renters, owners owning one house, and owners buying a second or more houses. Presumably, renting a house is for consumption only, while buying a second house is usually for investment purposes. Applying a two-period model and two data sets from DGBAS and from Land Bank of Taiwan, the estimated results are as follows: Firstly, the income elasticity of pure consumption demand for housing is very close to unity (1.0413). Secondly, the income elasticity for a pure investment demand is greater than one (1.2643). Finally, for a household owning only one house, the shares for consumption motive and for investment motive are 26% and 74%, respectively.Consumption demand, investment demand, elasticity and housing, Taiwan

Monitoring Costs and the Mode of International Investment

contract, vertical integration, opportunism, international investment, China

Monitoring Costs and the Mode of International Investment

Our central proposition is that monitoring costs increase with physical distance, and hence, direct investments located further from the foreign investor’s home base should be more likely formed as joint ventures. Tests on a data set of Taiwanese direct investments in Mainland China provide robust support to the hypothesis. A project that was located 1000 kilometers further away was 13-17% more likely to be formed as a joint venture.contract, vertical integration, opportunism, international investment, China

HLA typing in Taiwanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

AbstractBackground/purposeThe human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, which plays a vital role in immunity, is the most polymorphic gene complex found in the human genome. This study investigated HLA-related alleles and haplotypes in Taiwanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).Materials and methodsHLA class I (HLA-A and HLA-B) antigens and class II (HLA-DRB1) alleles were determined in 105 patients with OSCC and compared with those in 190 healthy controls. The antigens were measured serologically and the alleles by sequencing-based typing.ResultsCompared with the control group, patients with OSCC had higher frequencies of HLA-A24, HLA-B54, HLA-DRB1*0405, and HLA-DRB1*1201, while they had lower frequencies of HLA-B58 and HLA-DRB1*1302. Haplotype frequencies also varied significantly in individuals with OSCC, with certain haplotypes associated with lymph node metastases or a particular tumor stage.ConclusionThese results suggest that HLA genetic factors influence susceptibility to OSCC and perhaps to lymph node metastasis and tumor progression