Volatility and the Cross-Section of Real Estate Equity Returns during COVID-19

This paper uses the global systemic shock associated with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 to assess the risk-return relationship in the cross-section of real estate equities internationally. I construct a global COVID-19 risk factor to capture the risk exposure of individual stocks to the pandemic. The paper also assesses the low-risk effect puzzle in real estate stocks. I find that the average firm sensitivity to the COVID-19 risk factor increases from close to zero prior to the pandemic to 0.6 during the pandemic with large variations across countries and sectors. Fama-MacBeth regressions reveal evidence for a low-risk effect – both through market and COVID-19 risks – which is not be associated with behavioral biases but rather with financial constraints. Consistent with recent research, the findings in this paper suggest that investors perceive the shock caused by the COVID-19 to be amplified by financial channels

Contemporary aspects of the training in the professional sector of healthcare

The professions in the sector of healthcare have been undergoing an upward development during the last few decades. The preconditions for this are: harmonization of the training with the European standards and direc­tives; the needs of the national and European health systems of qualified specialists; the constantly increasing deficit of health professionals; the demographic factor; the enhanced need of care, etc.AIM: The aim of this research is to analyze some contemporary aspects, referring to the overall organization and implementation of the training process in the professional sector of healthcare within the university struc­ture.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The author has used an inquiry method, an interview, analysis of training records and statutory documents.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: On the basis of the research, conducted in the last years as well as the au­thor`s own observations and experience, some contemporary aspects of the training in the sector of healthcare have been analyzed with regards to: its organization and implementation within the university structure; the performed accreditations; the students` admission; possibilities for international exchange and self-realiza­tion

Electron-phonon effects in graphene and an armchair (10,10) single wall carbon nanotube

New effects due to the electron-phonon interaction in some low-dimensional tight-binding systems are discussed. A sheet of graphite which is two dimensional and an armchair single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) which is quasi-one dimensional are taken as examples. The geometrical structure and the linear dispersion of the energy with respect to the electron wave vector are expected to play a significant role. For the ordinary electron-phonon coupling which includes modulated hopping and linear electron-phonon interaction the matrix elements for both systems are derived in the context of a two parameter model for the phonon vibrational spectrum. It is found that they (for both structures) strongly depend on the geometry, display a deformation type of potential and are reduced by a factor of (1 — R), where R depends uniquely on the introduced phonon parameters.Next a new type of interaction is derived; it arises from the phonon modulation of the electron-electron interaction. After writing the matrix elements for the new Hamiltonian, the problem is considered in the context of many body physics.There are two contributions. One of them is the random phase approximation with one phonon line. The electron self-energy for it is calculated. It is shown that, in general, one might expect that this is not a large effect. Analytical expressions are obtained for the armchair single wall carbon nanotube. The exchange interaction in the one-phonon approximation is another term that arises and is also considered. One is able to write four new Feynman diagrams and derive an expression for —ImΣ(k⃗). It is found that the contribution from this type of coupling could be large and comparable to the one from the modulated hopping. These results are supported by numerical estimates of some characteristics of graphene and SWNT.The values of the electron-phonon coupling constant. λ, and the electron lifetime,τ, could be compared between the traditional electron-phonon interaction and thephonon modulated electron-electron interaction. Finally, it is realized that for a perfect (defect-free) armchair SWNT the diffusion thermopower and the phonon drag thermopower should be zero because of the complete symmetry of the energy bands of the system

THE TRAINING OF GERIATRIC SPECIALISTS IN MEDICAL COLLEGE AT TRAKIA UNIVERSITY, STARA ZAGORA, BULGARIA - IMPORTANT TOOL OF SOCIAL POLICY FOR ACHIEVING BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR OLD PEOPLE

Demographic indicators of are dynamic and reported an increase in the length of human life and the aging the world population. This has emerged as an irreversible process, which is particularly valid for Bulgaria, because it ranks fifth in the world in pace of aging of the population.The purpose of this research is to determine the role and place of the new geriatric specialists from the Medical College of Trakia University, Stara Zagora, for improving the quality of life of elderly and old people.Materials and Methods: Documentary, counterfactual analysis, monitoringResults: Medical College at Trakia University set up and accredits new for the country specialty "Geriatric Care" for which is approved administration of 60 students state order. Based on the analysis and comparison of the competencies of geriatric specialists with fundamental targets set at national level thus improving the quality of life of adults and older people from Bulgaria in the part of delivery of quality long-term care are made conclusions about the geriatric specialists as important tool of social policy in achieving high quality life of life in geriatric age..Demographic indicators of are dynamic and reported an increase in the length of human life and the aging the world population. This has emerged as an irreversible process, which is particularly valid for Bulgaria, because it ranks fifth in the world in pace of aging of the population.The purpose of this research is to determine the role and place of the new geriatric specialists from the Medical College of Trakia University, Stara Zagora, for improving the quality of life of elderly and old people.Materials and Methods: Documentary, counterfactual analysis, monitoringResults: Medical College at Trakia University set up and accredits new for the country specialty "Geriatric Care" for which is approved administration of 60 students state order. Based on the analysis and comparison of the competencies of geriatric specialists with fundamental targets set at national level thus improving the quality of life of adults and older people from Bulgaria in the part of delivery of quality long-term care are made conclusions about the geriatric specialists as important tool of social policy in achieving high quality life of life in geriatric age.

Volatility and the Cross-Section of Real Estate Equity Returns during Covid-19

This paper uses the global systemic shock associated with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 to assess the risk-return relationship in the cross-section of real estate equities in the US and in selected Asian countries. I construct regional Covid-19 Risk Factors (CRFs) to assess how the risk exposure of stocks to the pandemic affects their performance. I find substantial differences between stocks in Asia and the US as a result of the pandemic. During the early stages of the pandemic, the sensitivity of Asian real estate companies to the market becomes negative, while it remains positive and increases in the US. Real estate sectors experience strong divergence in performance in the US while little sectoral difference is observed in Asia. The most affected sectors in the US are retail and hotels, while in Asia it is office. A Fama–MacBeth regression shows evidence for a low-risk effect during the Covid period: while insignificant prior to the pandemic, the return-risk relationship becomes significantly negative during the Covid period, with valuation effects driving the results in both regions. Firms in the US perform significantly worse if their exposure to the pandemic is higher, which is not the case in Asia. The results point towards strong divergence of expectations between US and Asian real estate companies in the onset of Covid-19, which may be associated with the level of prior experience to similar pandemics

The pricing of spatial linkages in companies’ underlying assets

Spatial linkages in returns have not yet received much attention in an asset pricing context, however, they can capture important information about idiosyncratic externalities associated with firms’ holdings. We explain returns of real estate companies by modelling the spatial comovement across their underlying assets. We connect stocks of real estate firms using the location of their property portfolios and show that spatial linkages across real estate assets explain some of the variation in abnormal returns, controlling for exposure to systematic factors and firm characteristics. We propose a trading strategy that exploits the information contained in the spatial linkages of the underlying assets. We show that a long-short hedge that sells the stocks that experience a drop in the price if their connected stocks have also gone down in price and buys the stocks that experience an increase in the price if their connected stocks have also gone up delivers a non-market return of 9.7% per year

Is Financial Regulation Good or Bad for Real Estate Companies? – An Event Study

This study investigates how three regulatory reforms undertaken in the aftermath of the global financial crisis have affected returns of real estate companies. The three reforms are aimed at regulating different segments of the market – Basel III targets banks, and could restrict the availability of bank debt to the sector; the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD) targets funds, which could increase compliance costs and reduce the potential investor pool; the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) is aimed at derivative trading and could impact the cost of debt capital. We employ an event study methodology using daily stock returns of real estate companies and identify the regulatory events through news published in major international financial newspapers and news agencies. Our results show different responses across the three regulations. For Basel III we find support for the regulatory burden hypothesis of the bank lending channel for small real estate firms and firms with low debt-to-equity ratios as they cannot diversify their funding sources. The direct regulatory effect as tested using AIFMD announcements supports the profit-based reaction hypothesis for large firms. We also show that the news have asymmetric effects with tighter regulation news more frequently leading to significant responses in average abnormal returns (AARs) than loosening regulation news

How ‘bad’ is renter protection for institutional investment in multifamily housing?

We assess the role of state-level renter protection regulations on the pricing, performance and risk of multifamily housing. We construct a renter protection score (RPS) to measure the extent of renter protection in each state. Using a proprietary property-level dataset from loans backed by commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and census tract socioeconomic variables, we study the role of RPS on initial capitalization (cap) rates, annual net operating income (NOI) and annual loan delinquency rates of multifamily housing. We find that, contrary to conventional wisdom that renter protection is ‘bad’ for investors, multifamily housing in high RPS states is associated higher annual NOI and NOI growth and lower delinquency rates. We also show that better tenant protection is associated with lower initial cap rates. The results point to investors perceiving properties in more regulated states as lower risk due to reduced income volatility. For institutional investors, higher levels of renter protection are, therefore, not ‘bad’ but are instead associated with lower cash flow volatility and better income growth prospects

Bank integration and co-movements across housing markets

This paper investigates whether bank integration measured by cross-border bank flows can capture the co-movements across housing markets in developed countries by using a spatial dynamic panel model. The transmission can occur through a global banking channel in which global banks intermediate wholesale funding to local banks. Changes in financial conditions are passed across borders through the banks’ balance-sheet exposure to credit, currency, maturity, and funding risks resulting in house price spillovers. While controlling for country-level and global factors, we find significant co-movement across housing markets of countries with proportionally high bank integration. Bank integration can better capture house price co-movements than other measures of economic integration. Once we account for bank exposure, other spatial linkages traditionally used to account for return co-movements across region – such as trade, foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, geographic proximity, etc. – become insignificant. Moreover, we find that the co-movement across housing markets decreases for countries with less developed mortgage markets characterized by fixed mortgage rate contracts, low limits of loan-to-value ratios and no mortgage equity withdrawal