The determinants of foreign direct investment in U.S. real estate : an empirical analysis

Thesis (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2011.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections."September 2011." Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-52).This thesis provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of foreign direct investment in commercial real estate (FDIRE) in the U.S. We examine the major factors that affect levels of FDIRE in the U.S. and foreign investors' location preferences. First, using panel data from 2002 to 2006, this research develops a model to test the importance of GDP, GDP growth, national investment level, exchange rate, and interest rate in determining levels of FDIRE in the U.S. from major developed countries. Results of the study suggest that economic growth of a country unexpectedly encourages domestic investment rather than foreign investment, and depreciation of currency value of the host country attracts more FDIRE. Second, the study analyzes the spatial distribution of FDIRE at the state level for the time period 1999 to 2007. A set of location determinants is selected to explain the pattern of FDIRE. These determinants include size of population, personal income, commercial real estate vacancy rate, commercial real estate completion rate, population growth, and personal income growth. Results of the study suggest that foreign investors prefer larger and wealthier states for direct commercial real estate investment. There is also evidence showing that foreign investors begin to diversify toward less populous and less wealthy states.by Min Liang and Sunghoon Yoon.S.M.in Real Estate Developmen

A study on real estate derivatives

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2006.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-86).All major asset classes including stocks and bonds have a well developed derivative market. Derivatives enable counterparties to reflect a view on a particular market, without having to trade the underlying asset. This seems to be a particularly appealing feature for real estate, an industry characterized by high transaction cost, long lead transaction time and lack of short-selling mechanism. Still, real estate remains the last major asset class without a liquid derivative market until recently when Credit Suisse began to offer swaps on the NCREIF Property Index (NPI) in the U.S. early this year following the UK's ten-year endeavor in developing real estate derivative market. The purpose of this thesis is two fold. First, in chapter one and two, we would like to explain what real estate derivatives are, how they work and why they can be beneficial to investors. Second, we are introducing some practical tools investors may use in evaluating and trading real estate derivatives. In chapter three, we are introducing three forecasting models on the NCREIF Property Index. In chapter four, we are expanding Prof. David Geltner's pricing methods on real estate index capital return swap to the NPI total return swap and property type total return swap.(cont.) These pricing methods present a basic foundation for investors to price all three types of swap currently being offered by Credit Suisse. In our study, we find that derivatives can provide numerous benefits to real estate investors including low transaction cost, quick execution and short-selling mechanism. These benefits in turn can help investors implement various strategies including hedging against market risk, asset allocation, sector rebalancing, international diversification and portable Alpha. Our research on UK's experience in real estate derivatives as well as our investor survey results in the U.S. and the UK lead us to believe that further initiative and pioneering efforts are critical for the development of the real estate derivatives market. By presenting this study on index forecasting models and pricing methodologies, we hope to increase the awareness and comfort level of investors and thus encourage the proliferation of real estate derivatives.by Jong Yoon Lim and Yi Zhang.S.M

Reunion of random walkers with a long range interaction: applications to polymers and quantum mechanics

We use renormalization group to calculate the reunion and survival exponents of a set of random walkers interacting with a long range $1/r^2$ and a short range interaction. These exponents are used to study the binding-unbinding transition of polymers and the behavior of several quantum problems.Comment: Revtex 3.1, 9 pages (two-column format), 3 figures. Published version (PRE 63, 051103 (2001)). Reference corrections incorporated (PRE 64, 059902 (2001) (E

Atomic-scale perspective on the origin of attractive step interactions on Si(113)

Recent experiments have shown that steps on Si(113) surfaces self-organize into bunches due to a competition between long-range repulsive and short-range attractive interactions. Using empirical and tight-binding interatomic potentials, we investigate the physical origin of the short-range attraction, and report the formation and interaction energies of steps. We find that the short-range attraction between steps is due to the annihilation of force monopoles at their edges as they combine to form bunches. Our results for the strengths of the attractive interactions are consistent with the values determined from experimental studies on kinetics of faceting.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev B, Rapid Communication

Track Reconstruction and Performance of DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Detectors using Alpha Particles

First results are presented from an analysis of data from the DRIFT-IIa and DRIFT-IIb directional dark matter detectors at Boulby Mine in which alpha particle tracks were reconstructed and used to characterise detector performance--an important step towards optimising directional technology. The drift velocity in DRIFT-IIa was [59.3 +/- 0.2 (stat) +/- 7.5 (sys)] m/s based on an analysis of naturally-occurring alpha-emitting background. The drift velocity in DRIFT-IIb was [57 +/- 1 (stat) +/- 3 (sys)] m/s determined by the analysis of alpha particle tracks from a Po-210 source. 3D range reconstruction and energy spectra were used to identify alpha particles from the decay of Rn-222, Po-218, Rn-220 and Po-216. This study found that (22 +/- 2)% of Po-218 progeny (from Rn-222 decay) are produced with no net charge in 40 Torr CS2. For Po-216 progeny (from Rn-220 decay) the uncharged fraction is (100 +0 -35)%.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A. Subj-class: Instrumentation and Detector

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe