Nonsolicitation and Cease and Desist Orders Against Real Estate Brokers in New York

This Article will trace the origin, growth and enforcement of nonsolicitation and cease and desist orders. Part II outlines the federal framework for dealing with discriminatory practices by real estate brokers. Section A focuses on steering the target of cease and desist orders-and illustrates the dilemma of both the victims and the brokers. Section B details blockbusting-the target of nonsolicitation orders. In discussing its genesis, financial operation, and sociological implications, this section also considers whether solicitation by brokers constitutes commercial speech protected by the first amendment. Section C briefly explores the effectiveness of section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as a remedy against racial discrimination in housing. Section D examines whether subtle behavior, language, and mannerisms employed by brokers in steering and blockbusting are elements that establish intent to discriminate. Part III considers the New York response to steering and blockbusting. Section A outlines the various applicable laws, rules, and codes and demonstrates the difficulty in pursuing a cause of action or complaint. Section B discusses hearings, license suspensions, and revocations by the Secretary of State, and examines Article 78 proceedings that provide judicial review of the determination of the Secretary of State. Section C reviews Article 15 (the Human Rights Law) of the Executive Law, which is New York\u27s comprehensive counterpart to the federal Fair Housing Act. Section D examines the Secretary\u27s statutory authority to impose penalties. This Section compares the effectiveness of these penalties with that of nonsolicitation and cease and desist orders. This Article concludes that while nonsolicitation and cease and desist orders do not mitigate the effects of racial tension, they do effectively target local brokers who victimize neighborhoods

The Effects of Imbalanced Competition on Demonstration Strategies

This paper analyzes the effect of competition on product demonstration decisions. Pre-purchase product demonstration enables marketers to differentiate products that are ex-post differentiated but are judged according to perceived fit, rather than actual fit, due to pre-purchase consumer uncertainty. Imbalanced competition accompanied by fit uncertainty motivates the follower to offer demonstrations to avoid a price war. This paper explores the conditions that lead the leader to retaliate. In addition to effects on quantity, competition may increase the quality of demonstrations offered by the leader. We analyze a business case, showing that competition may increase the demonstration intensity and that the leading manufacturer’s response to changes in competition is stronger than the responses of the followers. Our research has the potential to aid mangers in formulating demonstration strategies and in responding to competitors’ demonstration efforts.Imbalanced competition, product demonstration, differentiation, test-drive, price war, Political Economy, Production Economics,

The value of economic research:

Economic research generates a wide array of benefits. These include information, technological change, and improved policy. There are few quantitative studies of the benefits of economic research, and some benefits may be misattributed to biological and physical research. To be productive, economic research must be transmitted and the user must be able to use it. Therefore, investment in extension outreach and economic literacy are important to improve its impact. Even casual observation suggests that economic research is valuable, but noneconomists must be convinced of this. Since benefits are likely to be concentrated in a small number of successful projects, a useful approach to the assessment of the benefits of research is to identify these projects and their results. The analysis must recognize that the accuracy of any estimates of benefits is uncertain. In addition, the argument behind the estimates should be transparent, relying on documentation and testimony from users, policymakers, and noneconomists. Assessments of the benefits of economic research provide information that can be used both to justify support for economic research and to allocate monies among lines of research.Research Economic aspects., Impact assessment,

Book Reviews

Reviews of : Wansink, B. Marketing Nutrition: Soy, Functional foods, Biotechnology and Obesity Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005; Motzafi-Haller, P. (ed.) Women in Agriculture in the Middle East Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2005Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Competitive Boolean Function Evaluation: Beyond Monotonicity, and the Symmetric Case

We study the extremal competitive ratio of Boolean function evaluation. We provide the first non-trivial lower and upper bounds for classes of Boolean functions which are not included in the class of monotone Boolean functions. For the particular case of symmetric functions our bounds are matching and we exactly characterize the best possible competitiveness achievable by a deterministic algorithm. Our upper bound is obtained by a simple polynomial time algorithm.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Discrete Applied Mathematic

Choosing Brands: Fresh Produce versus other Products

This study presents a framework to analyze how uncertainty about product attributes affects consumers' WTP for brand name products over generic ones, incorporating key elements of a random utility model and product attribute models. We found that in comparison to electronics, clothing, and processed food, consumers buy brand name vegetables and fruits mainly because of quality uncertainty, and they can easily reduce uncertainty of product quality of fresh vegetables and fruits by seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Hence, consumers are less willing to pay for brands of fresh vegetables and fruits. However, simulation results show that brands of fresh fruits and vegetables may have a similar price premium as other products, but they lack the market share. Thus, the main challenge in building brands of fresh produce is to establish a critical mass. We also find that demographic information such as education and gender does affect consumers' WTP for brands.Consumer/Household Economics,

The Impact of the Restaurant Critic

Restaurant critiques have an effect on the sales volume of restaurants following the publication of the critique in the target markets’ media. The author discusses data from restaurant operations in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area which have had their operations publicly critiqued, and also addresses the credibility of critics

A study of historic rural America

Master of Regional and Community PlanningArchitectureJohn W. KellerSimilar to their urban counterparts, rural communities consider preservation of a site based on their most vital economic features. With the growing minority and non-white cultures becoming more predominant in American society, so too has the culture and significance of historic events changed. More emphasis is now on the surrounding environment of those landmarks historically preserved rather than just the landmarks themselves. And in turn with the environment, more grants and awards are passed down to those sites and locations that provide more options to limiting excess space and energy while utilizing them to the fullest potential. Some conflicts still occur in relation to preserving historical integrity with development, but the total consensus is that historic preservation provides economic benefit more than loss

Neural correlates of emotion processing comparing antidepressants and exogenous oxytocin in postpartum depressed women: An exploratory study

Despite common use of antidepressants to treat postpartum depression, little is known about the impact of antidepressant use on postpartum brain activity. Additionally, although oxytocin has been investigated as a potential treatment for postpartum depression, the interaction between antidepressants and exogenous oxytocin on brain activity is unknown. We explored postpartum depressed women’s neural activation in areas identified as important to emotion and reward processing and potentially, antidepressant response: the amygdala, nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. We conducted a secondary analysis of a functional imaging study of response to sexual, crying infant and smiling infant images in 23 postpartum depressed women with infants under six months (11 women taking antidepressants, 12 unmedicated). Participants were randomized to receive a single dose of oxytocin or placebo nasal spray. There was significantly higher amygdala activation to sexual stimuli than either neutral or infant-related stimuli among women taking antidepressants or receiving oxytocin nasal spray. Among unmedicated women receiving placebo, amygdala activation was similar across stimuli types. There were no significant effects of antidepressants nor oxytocin nasal spray on reward area processing (i.e., in the nucleus accumbens or ventral tegmental area). Among postpartum women who remain depressed, there may be significant interactions between the effects of antidepressant use and exogenous oxytocin on neural activity associated with processing emotional information. Observed effect sizes were moderate to large, strongly suggesting the need for further replication with a larger sample

Universal Properties of Linear Magnetoresistance in Strongly Disordered Semiconductors

Linear magnetoresistance occurs in semiconductors as a consequence of strong electrical disorder and is characterized by nonsaturating magnetoresistance that is proportional to the applied magnetic field. By investigating a disordered MnAs-GaAs composite material, it is found that the magnitude of the linear magnetoresistance (LMR) is numerically equal to the carrier mobility over a wide range and is independent of carrier density. This behavior is complementary to the Hall effect that is independent of the mobility and dependent on the carrier density. Moreover, the LMR appears to be insensitive to the details of the disorder and points to a universal explanation of classical LMR that can be applied to other material systems.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev. B (2010