Some evidence from Japan on the efficiency of land markets

When an investor enters the real-estate market, can he detect a profitable parcel of land simply by observing how its price (or, more realistically, prices of like parcels in its general vicinity) has behaved in the immediate past? For example, if we observe land prices in a certain of a city or even of a country to be rising at a rapid rate, is it reasonable to expect prices there to continue to rise at this rapid rate? If so, the market is said to be 'inefficient'. Current prices in that market do not fully capitalize expected future price changes. This paper asks if the Tokyo land market is inefficient and concludes that it is. If the government data on this market can be trusted, there are wide divergences in mean rates of appreciation across parcels that cannot be explained by differences in risk and that are not being closed through arbitrage. It appears that an investor in land can make an above average return on his funds by discovering where land prices have been rising at an above average rate and by investing in land in this area. If sustained by similar analyses of other land markets, this finding will give quantitative content to land economists' intuition that land markets are different from other speculative markets (for example, the stock and commodities markets), which are well known to be highly efficient.

Erratum: 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D₃ Upregulates Functional C-X-C Chemokine Receptor Type 4 Expression in Human Eosinophils

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Epidemiological studies suggest that vitamin D may be protective against the inception and exacerbation of allergic diseases. However, the direct effect of vitamin D on eosinophils, the major effector cells in allergic inflammation, is not known. It has been reported that C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in eosinophils is induced in non-Th2 cytokine milieu or in response to glucocorticoids, recruiting the cell to noninflammatory sites. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> To test whether 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ [1,25-(OH)₂D₃ or calcitriol], the active metabolite of vitamin D, acts directly on eosinophils to induce upregulation of CXCR4. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Peripheral blood eosinophils from normal volunteers were isolated by CD16 immunomagnetic beads. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression was detected by RT-PCR. Eosinophils were cultured with 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ and the survival and expression of CXCR4 on eosinophils were measured by flowcytometry. Eosinophil migration by CXCL-12/SDF-1 in the presence of 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ was also analyzed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Eosinophils expressed VDR. 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ prolonged eosinophil survival and upregulated eosinophil surface expression of CXCR4 in a concentration-dependent manner. Interleukin (IL)-5 significantly reduced CXCR4 expression and migration induced by the ligand CXCL-12/SDF-1. 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ reversed the negative effects of IL-5 on the CXCR4-CXCL12 pathway. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ regulates CXCR4 expression in eosinophils. The mechanism may be involved in eosinophil recruitment to noninflammatory sites where the ligand of CXCR4 is constitutively expressed

Binary Relations: Finite Characterizations and Computational Complexity

preferences, Pareto order, voting, D11, D70,