Bargaining and Search: An Experimental Study

We study experimentally two versions of a model in which a buyer and a seller bargain over the price of a good; however, the buyer can choose to leave the negotiation table to search for other alternatives. Under one version, if the buyer chooses to search for a better price, the opportunity to purchase the good at the stated price is gone. Under the second version, the seller guarantees the same price if the buyer chooses to return immediately after a search (presumably because a better price could not be found). In both cases, the buyer has a fairly good idea about what to expect from the search, but because the search is costly, he has to weigh the potential benefits of the search against its cost. It turns out (theoretically) that adding search to a simple bargaining mechanism eliminates some unsatisfactory features of bargaining theory. Our experiment reveals that the model can account for some (but not all) of the behavioral regularities. In line with recent developments in behavioral decision theory and game theory, which assume bounded rationality and preferences over the relative division of a surplus, we find that subjects follow simple rules of thumb and distributional norms in choosing strategies, which are reflected in the behavioral consistencies observed in this study.Bargaining, search, outside option, ultimatum game

QUANTIFYING MAGNETITE IN CHITOSAN MICROSPHERES LOADED WITH 5-FLUROURACIL USING MODIFIED COLORIMETRIC METHOD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS

Objective: The purpose of the present investigation is to develop a simple colorimetric estimation of magnetite from magnetic microspheres.Methods: Emulsification and cross-linking technique was used to prepare 5-fluorouracil loaded chitosan magnetic microspheres. The microspheres were evaluated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. A modified colorimetric method was employed to determine magnetite content of chitosan microspheres with and without the drug. Microspheres were digested by HCl to convert magnetite into ferrous/ferric ions. Absorbance of yellow coloured complex of these ions with sulfosalicylic acid at alkaline pH was measured to quantify magnetite at 425 nm. The determination of magnetite by the colorimetry validated through a thermogravimetric analysis of the same samples.Results: The presences of magnetite in the microspheres were qualitatively confirmed by the photomicrograph, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction studies. Colorimetric determination of magnetite content of the drug loaded, and unloaded chitosan microspheres were 21.5 and 20.6%w/w, respectively. The magnetite content of the same samples estimated by thermogravimetric analysis was 22.5 and 19.1%w/w, correspondingly, which were much closer to the colorimetric estimation. The drug loading in the microsphere was 12.35% w/w, and the X-ray diffraction analysis confirms amorphous nature of the loaded drug.Conclusion: The proposed colorimetric quantification of magnetite is simple cost-effective and could be useful in determining magnetite content of magnetically targeted drug-delivery systems.Â

Effect of thermal and non-thermal treatment on the quality of honey: a review

In recent year, there has been an increasing amount of studies on the quality of honey particularly physicochemical properties and its nutritional value. Unfortunately, these properties will be affected when it is exposed to a temperature higher than 60°C during the conventional thermal processing and also altered its nutritional properties such as antioxidant activity and brown pigment formation. Hence, non-thermal processing that might be proven to be significant benefit, applied without causing significant heating that can damage taste, texture and nutritional value of honey. Although there are many research has been done on non-thermal processing on the bio-compounds in various foods in various foods, the application of non-thermal processing for the enhancement of the quality of honey is underexplored. By studying the effects of non-thermal processing on the quality of honey, it will help to improve the use of honey and also a diversification in food products containing it

Volatility decomposition of Australian housing prices

This study examines the volatility pattern of Australian housing prices. The approach for this research was to decompose the conditional volatility of housing prices into a &ldquo;permanent&rdquo; component and a &ldquo;transitory&rdquo; component via a Component-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (C-GARCH) model. The results demonstrate that the shock impact on the short-run component (transitory) is much larger than the long-run component (permanent), whereas the persistence of transitory shocks is much less than permanent shocks. Moreover, both permanent and transitory volatility components have different determinants. The results provide important new insights into the volatility pattern of housing prices which has direct implications for investment in housing by owner-occupiers and investors.<br /

"GREEN TAXES": IMPACTS ON NATIONAL INCOME, SOCIAL WELFARE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

Two taxation schemes were designed to be included in a multi-regional multi-sectoral General Equilibrium model for reducing the use of commercial fertilizers, with the goal of alleviating surface water pollution. Under the 500% tax rate, results showed that 0.1% of the national income was given up in order to exchange for a 3% reduction in the fertilizer application used as an intermediate input. Furthermore environmental quality would be improved by 3%, if a linear relationship existed between the changes in intermediate fertilizer use and the improvement in environmental quality.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Low-frequency volatility of real estate securities in relation to macroeconomic risk

Real estate securities have a number of distinct characteristics that differentiate them from stocks generally. Key amongst them is that under-pinning the firms are both real as well as investment assets. The connections between the underlying macro-economy and listed real estate firms is therefore clearly demonstrated and of heightened importance. To consider the linkages with the underlying macro-economic fundamentals we extract the ‘low-frequency’ volatility component from aggregate volatility shocks in 11 international markets over the 1990-2014 period. This is achieved using Engle and Rangel’s (2008) Spline-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (Spline-GARCH) model. The estimated low-frequency volatility is then examined together with low-frequency macro data in a fixed-effect pooled regression framework. The analysis reveals that the low-frequency volatility of real estate securities has strong and positive association with most of the macroeconomic risk proxies examined. These include interest rates, inflation, GDP and foreign exchange rates

Towards understanding the dynamics of the Regional Property markets of Australia

Housing one third of the population and generating two thirds of the export economy, regional towns and rural areas are a significant part of the Australian socio-economic structure. Although there is substantial policy focus on regional development and improving the well-being of its residents at federal and state levels, much of the detailed, large scale, longitudinal studies on the built environment, real-estate and property markets are often focused on the capital city regions. To tackle this issue, this study uses the detailed, comprehensive, large scale, long-term longitudinal data on property sales made available by the Valuer General offices of New South Wales and South Australia to understand the dynamics of the property markets in regional Australia and the factors affecting them

Downside systematic risk in Australian listed property trusts

Previous studies on systematic risk have demonstrated the link between financial and management structure determinants and systematic risk. However, systematic risk is estimated by assuming return is normally distributed. This assumption is generally rejected for real estate returns. Therefore, downside systematic risk appears as a more sensible risk measure in estimating market-related risk. This study contributes to this body of knowledge by examining the determinants of downside systematic risk in Australian Listed Property Trusts (LPTs) over 1993-2005. The results reveal that systematic risk and downside systematic risk are empirically distinguishable. More specifically, there is limited evidence on the connection between these financial and management structure determinants and systematic risk. However, downside systematic risk is sensitive to leverage and management structure.<br /

Listed property trusts and downside systematic risk sensitivity

Purpose: This paper aims to identify and examine the determinants of downside systematic risk in Australian listed property trusts (LPTs).Design/methodology/approach: Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and lower partial moment-CAPM (LPM-CAPM) are employed to compute both systematic risk and downside systematic risk. The methodology of Patel and Olsen and Chaudhry et al. is adopted to examine the determinants of systematic risk and downside systematic risk.Findings: The results confirm that systematic risk and downside systematic risk can be individually identified. There is little evidence to support the existence of linkages between systematic risk in Australian LPTs and financial/management structure determinants. On the other hand, downside systematic risk is directly related to the leverage/management structure of a LPT. The results are also robust after controlling for the LPTs\u27 investment characteristics and varying target rates of return.Practical implications: Investors and real estate analysts should conscious with the higher returns from high leverage and internally managed LPTs. Although there is no evidence that these higher returns are related to higher systematic risk, there could be the compensation for higher downside systematic risk.Originality/value: This study provides invaluable insights into the management of real estate risk in Australian LPTs with implications for REITs in other countries. Unlike previous studies of systematic risk in REITs or LPTs, this is the first study to assess downside systematic risk and explore the determinants of downside systematic risk in LPTs