Labour market competitiveness and foreign direct investment: The case of Malaysia,Thailand and the Philippines

This article investigates whether labour market competitiveness affects the inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the ASEAN economies Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The analysis is based on a regression model using time series data on FDI, wages, the labour force, skills, R&D expenditure, the interest rate and several variables critical for economic development. The study shows that the labour market determinants differ between countries in terms of their role in FDI inflows. Thus analysis results suggest that, with regard to labour market competitiveness, different countries may require different policy recommendations in order to attract FDI inflows into their countries.Received: 2 October 2002, Accepted: 24 May 2003, JEL Classification: J240, J310, R230     

From the Subprime to the Exotic: Excessive Mortgage Market Risk and Foreclosures

Problem: The recent rapid growth of high-risk mortgage lending raised the financial risk profile facing not only the American homeowner but entire neighborhoods. From the perspective of planners, the problem of increased and geographically concentrated foreclosures is the most critical outcome that has resulted from high-risk mortgage markets.

Purpose: This article analyzes recent trends in mortgage finance in order to recommend what local planners can do to reduce the negative consequences of high-risk home lending for their own communities.

Methods: I plot public and private data, much of it readily available for little or no cost, to discover where in the nation recent mortgage foreclosures are concentrated, and describe how similar analysis could be used prospectively and at a local scale to anticipate future problems.

Results and conclusions: Numbers of subprime, exotic, and zero-down-payment mortgages have all been growing. Where they are spatially concentrated they are linked to rising and geographically concentrated home mortgage foreclosures. I find evidence that subprime lenders achieve greater market penetration in metropolitan areas with less educated residents, and that higher-risk lending is more prevalent where housing prices are high and increasing. I also find that when local housing markets are hot, even high levels of subprime lending are associated with only slightly higher foreclosure filing rates, but foreclosure rates rise quickly when hot markets cool.

Takeaway for practice: Although foreclosures are less likely to be a severe problem in very strong real estate markets, when prices in previously hot markets stagnate or decline, foreclosures can quickly follow. This is a serious concern given recent trends in mortgage financing that have extended credit to more economically vulnerable populations and generally weakening housing markets in many metropolitan areas. These foreclosures tend also to be spatially concentrated within metropolitan areas, particularly stressing housing markets in neighborhoods where the higher-risk products are more prevalent. I recommend that planners: (1) track local lending and foreclosure patterns; (2) promote healthier mortgage markets in vulnerable areas; (3) fund targeted foreclosure prevention and counseling; (4) develop refinancing/restructuring programs; (5) redesign programs to promote sustainable homeownership; (6) get foreclosed properties reoccupied quickly; (7) recognize the effect of foreclosure surges on rental housing markets; and (8) be proactive in policy debates on lending regulation and foreclosure processes.

Research support: None.     

单、双层玻璃幕墙对高层办公楼空调负荷及造价的影响分析一例

通过对深业中心的比较分析，指出在深圳等冬季不需供暖的地方，高层办公楼的玻璃幕墙采用单层比双层合算，而且采用镀膜热反射玻璃等手段亦可实现空调节能。     

Public mortgage guarantee: instrument to cope with impacts of the financial crisis on the owner-occupied housing market evidence from the Netherlands

The global credit crunch had a deep impact on the mortgage markets in Europe, including the Netherlands. When the credit crunch transformed into a debt crisis, this impact deepened. The impact of the credit crunch and the debt crisis (together: the global financial crisis) on the Dutch housing market is described here. The Dutch government started to react with a stimulating policy but since 2010 austerity measures have become dominant. The National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) has been applied as an instrument to shelter home-owners against the hardship of the financial crisis. In this paper the role of National Mortgage Guarantee in the Netherlands is analysed. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of this guarantee as an instrument to cope with the impact of the financial crisis on the national owner-occupied housing market. The performance of NHG in 2010 is elaborated. The conclusion is that NHG has made the Dutch owner-occupied housing sector more resilient during the financial crisis.     

Modelling natural capital: The case of landscape restoration on the South Downs, England

Habitat suitability modelling has shown itself to be an important decision support tool for those concerned with the problem of where to target habitat and landscape restoration efforts. However, present approaches generally focus upon the biophysical characteristics of habitats and sites, and tend to ignore the social values associated with landscapes and habitat features. As a result current approaches only partially resolve the problems we face when dealing with a multifunctional landscape. In this paper, we examine how these limitations of current approaches may be overcome.The paper shows that present approaches to suitability modelling can be broadened by linking them to ideas about natural capital and landscape function. The approach is illustrated by means of a case study from the South Downs of England. It is suggested that by using the approach to model the spatial aspects of the natural capital associated with a given landscape, we may provide the user community with a framework that more fully addresses management issues that arise in the context of a sustainable, multifunctional landscape. In the case of the South Downs we show that restoration strategies that seek to take account of the multiple functions of downland differ from those which focus exclusively on enhancing or restoring the biodiversity of these areas.     

Simultaneous Territories: Unveiling the Geographies of Latin American Cities

The harmonious, utopian image that housing in Latin America exuded across the world in the postwar years is very much at odds with the current view of the region, in which unbridled shantytowns dominate. Patricio del Real sets out to understand how such a rupture might have been possible: What was the process of exclusion at play in these Modernist projects? How does Modernism represent simultaneous territories in which emerging challenges to the social and political status quo were merely muffled by the architectural seduction of the 1950s?. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New trajectories in urban regeneration processes: Cultural capital as source of human and social capital accumulation – Evidence from the case of Tohu in Montreal

Throughout the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, culture has gained increasing importance in strategies designed to deal with new trajectories of urban areas. Post-industrial cities seek to revive former industrial, contaminated and waterfront sites and their city centers, as they are aiming to establish themselves in the new arena of the global market place.     

The cost of living,labor market opportunities,and the migration decision: A case of misspecification?

A large literature has emerged dealing with the economic and non-economic determinants of migration. Among the economic determinants of migration are income levels and rates of change in income in different areas. These variables are designed to measure labor market opportunities both currently and in the future. Invariably, studies which attempt to explain migration utilizenominal measures of income and change in income, notreal measures. Yet assuming that individuals are not subject to money illusion, they would be interested in cost of living information as well as in information regarding nominal income and change in income. This paper examines this issue empirically. We demonstrate that some cost of living variables, when included in a migration equation, enter with the expected sign and are statistically significant. We also demonstrate the failure to include such variables in a regression results in misspecification and bias involving some of the variables in the regression.They wish to thank Professor Mark Fabrycy for helpful suggestions. They also thank their graduate research assistants, Bobbie Sheperd, Alison Zatik and John Breivogel, for data collection and computational assistance. They authors alone are responsible for any remaining shortcomings.     

资本市场赋能矿业企业上市公司高质量发展现状与展望

中国银行业资产规模全球第一、外汇储备规模全球第一、A股市值全球第二、债券市场规模全球第二,有能力为矿业赋能。矿业是长周期行业,适合在资本市场直接融资,中国资本市场30年间经历了5个阶段,培育了130余家矿业上市公司,2023年10家上市公司进入全球矿业50强。以上市公司为主的矿业企业海外并购数量和金额持续增长,成为保障中国资源海外权益的主力。2020年以来,中国多家公司股价创历史新高,资本对矿业的关注度持续增强。对于关注矿业领域的投资者来说,金融产品还不够丰富,尤其是指数类投资产品仍有较大成长空间,推出矿业为主题的金融产品,不仅可为资本市场提供优质的矿业投资标的,也能促进资本市场赋能矿业。当前中国矿业上市公司进入高质量发展阶段,本文从市值、数量、质量、治理4个方面提出政策建议。     

Measuring a dominant firm's market power in a restructured electricity market, a case study of Colorado

There is no guarantee that electric restructuring will bring the expected price benefits in a state with a dominant firm and significant transmission consraints. Reducing the dominant firm's market share is done most easily if the company voluntarily agrees to divest a portion of its generation in return for favorable regulatory treatment. If a voluntary agreement between the state and the firm cannot be reached, reducing the dominant firm's market share is much more difficult.     

Residential land attractiveness in an emerging property market: The case of Krasnoyarsk,Russia

The paper discusses the indicators and techniques which can be used in residential land assessment during the transition from a planned to a market economy when a land market is being formed. An analysis of housing market transactions, sociological polls, and an expert study were independently used to grade spatial differences in the residential land attractiveness in the city of Krasnoyarsk in Russia. The research shows that expert evaluations do not truthfully represent the attractiveness of urban environmental qualities in the eyes of potential investors. It is also argued that under certain conditions, sociological polls of the urban population give a better approximation of the prospective residential land market value than administrative and expert assessments. Boris A. Portnov is a researcher at the Center for Desert Architecture and Urban Planning at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boker Campus, 84990, Israel. He has his Ph.D. in the field of Urban and Regional Planning. In 1982–87 he was working in Ukraine as a town-planner and as the Head of Town-Building Department of the Ukraine State Project and Design Institute. From 1987 to 1995 he occupied different teaching positions at Krasnoyarsk Civil Engineering Institute of Russia (1987–1990-senior teacher; 1990–1995-professor of the Town-Building Department at the School of Architecture). he is a member of Russia's Architect Professional Union, and an author of two books and more than 70 articles. The field of his activity is urban-planning and rational use of urban lands. Vladimir P. Maslovskiy is an economist, and an Associate Professor of the Department of Economics at the Krasnoyarsk Civil Engineering Institute of Russia. He has a Ph.D. in Applied Economics. He is an author of 30 articles. In 1994 he received a grant from the World Bank for three months studying in Washington D.C. in the framework of the Project-Manager Program.     

The cost of living,labor market opportunities,and the migration decision: A case of misspecification?-A comment

The author comments on an article by Renas and Kumar in which they argue that including money income variables in a regression used to explain migration behavior represents a misspecification when separate cost of living variables are not included as well. A reply by Renas and Kumar in which they present additional evidence based on U.S. data is also included.     

The cost of living,labor market opportunities and the migration decision: A case of misspecification? Comment

The author presents an additional contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding an article originally published by Stephen M. Renas and Rishi Kumar. In the original article it was argued that including money income variables in a regression used to explain migration behavior represents a misspecification when separate cost of living variables are not included as well. In the present comment, particular attention is given to an earlier comment by Richard J. Cebula. Replies by Cebula and by Renas and Kumar are also included (pp. 97-100).     

Interconnecting an isolated electricity system to the European market: The case of Malta

The long-term European Union (EU) energy policy increasingly requires member countries to reform existing power systems, including those of small island states. These are commonly isolated electricity systems that rely heavily on imported fossil fuels. Interconnections with mainland power systems are an alternative to offset the exposure to volatile fuel prices. This paper studies the 200-MW (MW) subsea transmission cable between the EU island member state of Malta and Sicily that was inaugurated on April 2015. Our main purpose is to examine whether and to what extent Malta's vulnerability to distinct oil price scenarios can be overcome with this new interconnector. We describe the process used to simulate the merit order for both Malta's isolated and interconnected electric generation setup. The algorithm used provides the average electricity spot price and economic scarcity rent of electricity imports and exports. The main finding is that the Malta-Sicily interconnector does not necessarily lower electricity prices for Malta's consumers. However, some scenarios, notably the incorporation of natural gas in Malta's future generation portfolio, achieve win–win situations for both consumer and supplier. The Malta case study shows that cable impacts depend on the installed generation capacity, oil price, and market design.     

红色革命老区绿色山水新城——安徽省金寨县新行政办公区规划设计回顾

在金寨这个地域特色突出的城市进行新行政办公区的规划处于一种复杂的境地。方案很难摆脱建筑群规划设计的时代流行趋向这一强势话语的控制。在当前的时代背景下,理想与现实之间总是具有相当大的一段距离。在金寨新行政办公区的规划设计中,建筑师力求认识现实,从具体的地域环境出发,寻求能获得共识的、改良式的发展交流途径,为绿色山水城市的建设找到一条现实可行的循序渐进之路。