The Micro-foundations of Intertemporal Price Discrimination

This paper investigates the optimality of intertemporal price discrimination for a durable-good monopoly in a model where infinitely-lived households face an intertemporal budget constraint, and consume both durable goods and non-durable goods. We prove that the optimal price of the durable good is not constant, and may decrease or increase over time. Some households may choose to purchase the durable good at a later date, and pay lower or higher prices, since the gain in discounted utility of consuming more of the non-durable good more than compensates for the loss in utility from delaying the consumption of the durable good.Intertemporal price discrimination, durable good monopoly, optimal pricing strategy, household demand

Household Demand, Network Externality Effects and Intertemporal Price Discrimination

This paper examines the optimality of intertemporal price discrimination when network externality effects are present in the consumption of a durable good. We conduct our study in two settings. In a model with two household types, utilities are dependent on the cumulative proportion of households that have purchased the durable good. Next, in a model with a continuum of household types, we extend the analysis to the case where households consume both a durable good and a stream of non-durable goods. We show that in both settings, the presence of network externalities facilitates a sales strategy with intertemporal price discrimination.Intertemporal price discrimination, durable good, household demand, network externality

Congestion Control and Vehicle Ownership Restriction: The Choice of an Optimal Quota Policy

Singapore introduced a vehicle quota system (VQS) in 1990 as part of its overall policy to control urban congestion. While the VQS has reduced the annual growth rate of the vehicle population to about 3%, it has created uncertainty in the cost of vehicle ownership due to the fluctuations in license prices. The paper discusses three issues relating to the optimal design of a VQS: license transferability, subcategorization and the choice of an auction format. Our analysis shows that license transferability is not unambiguously desirable, sub-categorization is highly regressive, and an open auction format results in less aggressive bidding and lower license prices.congestion control, vehicle ownership, optimal quota, transport policy

Investing in Real Estate : Mortgage Financing Practices and Optimal Holding Period

Real estate investments are typically characterized by high degrees of leverage and long loan tenures. In perfect capital markets, leverage has no impact on the investment decision apart from tax considerations. However, the mortgage financing market is imperfect in many countries. In the presence of market imperfections, an optimal holding period exists for real property investments. We provide a simple rule to calculate the optimal holding period is to compare the required rate of return with the leveraged rate of return on equity.mortgage financing, real estate, financial leverage, optimal holding period

Investing in Real Estate: Mortgage Financing Practices and Optimal Holding Period

Real estate investments are typically characterized by high degrees of leverage and long-loan tenures. In perfect capital markets, leverage has no impact on the investment decision apart from tax considerations. However, the mortgage financing market is imperfect in many countries. In the presence of market imperfections, an optimal holding period exists for real property investments. We provide a simple rule to calculate the optimal holding period to compare the required rate of return with the leveraged rate of return on equity.

Expectations Formation and Forecasting of Vehicle Demand: An Empirical Study of the Vehicle Quota Auctions in Singapore

This paper studies the expectations formation and forecasting of vehicle demand in Singapore under the vehicle quota system. Under the system, a car buyer must first bid for a vehicle license in monthly auctions in order to purchase a new car. We construct an econometric model to test the hypothesis that past bid distributions of the license auctions contain information that car buyers can use to update their expectations about the intensity of market demand, forecast the license premiums and formulate their bidding strategies in future auctions. Our empirical analysis indicates that past bid distributions have a good degree of predictive power for the license premiums.quota licenses, vehicle demand, learning, expectations formation

A Shifting Paradigm and Growth Strategies Reappraisal in Post-Crisis Asia

Co-organized by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), Singapore National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (SINCPEC) and the Asian Development Bank Institute</p

Underpriced Default Spread Exacerbates Market Crashes

In this paper, we develop a specific observable symptom of a banking system that underprices the default spread in non-recourse asset-backed lending. Using three different data sets for 18 countries and property types, we find that, following a negative demand shock, the underpricing economies experience far deeper asset market crashes than economies in which the put option is correctly priced. Furthermore, only one of the countries in our sample continues to exhibit the underpricing symptom following a market crash. This indicates that market crashes have a cleansing effect and eliminate underpricing at least for a period of time. This makes investing in such markets safer following a negative demand shock.real estate bubble, lender optimism, disaster myopia, Asian financial crisis

Profiting from Mean-Reverting Yield Curve Trading Strategies

Published in Journal of Fixed Income, 2006, 15 (4), 20-33. https://doi.org/10.3905/jfi.2006.627836</p