Rent Levels Research Articles

Differential Expression of Adipocyte-Related Molecules in the Distal Epididymal Fat of Mouse during Postnatal Period.

The epididymal fat of mouse is a part of visceral fat deposit and is divided into the distal or proximal part based on its histochemical characteristics. Even though the formation of the epididymal fat pad begins before the birth, a detailed adipogenic procedure of the epididymal fat has not been revealed. The epididymal fat pad becomes enlarged and expended with age, and expressional changes of numerous genes are associated with the maturation of fat tissues. In the present research, expressional patterns of adipose tissue-related genes in the distal epididymal fat of mouse at 2, 5, 8, and 12 months of postnatal age were determined by a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The lowest transcript levels of fatty acid binding protein 4 (Fabp4), lipoprotein lipase (Lpl), delta like non-canonical Notch ligand 1 (Dlk1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Pparg), leptin (Lep), adiponectin (Adipoq), and resistin (Retn) were detected at 2 months of age, except fatty acid synthase (Fasn) showing the lowest level at 5 months of age. Even though expression of Lep and Fabp4 were gradually increased until 12 months of age, significant increases of Pparg and Adipoq transcript levels were continued until 8 months of age. The transcript levels of Lpl, Rent, Dlk1, and Fasn were significantly increased at 8 months of age, compared with those at 2 months of age. The current findings suggest that the expansion of the distal epididymal fat of mouse during postnatal period would be companied with differential expression of various adipocyte-associated molecules..

Design Developer Competition in Stockholm

This case study examines a developer competition held in Stockholm in 2013-2014 organized by the municipal government. The objective was to develop good and affordable housing for young citizens. Fifteen design teams took part in the competition. The jury compared two different proposals in the final evaluation: one with separate rooms linked to a collective space and one that consisted of small housing units. This sorting of design proposals in two main categories had a major impact on the judging in the competition. The jury declared the solution with small housing units as the winner, which reinforced the overall category as the appropriate direction for the design solution.
 There are three typical key players in the competition: the organizer, the jury, and the design teams. The organizer was responsible for the objective and terms presented in the brief. The jury was responsible to assign a winner. Architects, builders, and developers responded to the task by organizing design-teams and producing architectural design solutions. They had to understand affordability as both cost (rent level) and architectural design (area-effective apartments).
 The competition in Stockholm was investigated in a case study. Research data was collected from archives and through questionnaires answered by jury members and design teams. Methods used for analyzing documents and design solutions were close reading and architectural criticism.
 Twenty-two architectural students studied the competition in a course. In this case study, I compare how the professional jury evaluated the proposals to jury reports from the students focusing on innovative solutions. The professional jury and the student juries used the same criteria for judging but appointed different winners. The students preferred the solution with collective living. One explanation for this difference can be found in the structure of the evaluation process.
 The results of the study can be summarized in ten conclusions that deal with sorting and ranking of design proposals, criteria for judging, marketing of the competition, uncertainty and knowledge, motives for competing, innovation, and the competition as a tool for the political ambition of the public organizers. The result produced new knowledge. There are few studies focusing on developer competition as the production of design proposals and architectural quality.

Urban and Peri-Urban Residential Rental Markets in Wallonia: Similar or Different?

Residential rents are analysed in the Walloon region in Belgium. In this region, affected by urban sprawl, households rent accommodation in urbanised areas as well as in their peripheries. While there is no statistical difference between the average observed rents per square meter in urban agglomerations and suburbs, does it mean that these areas compose a single market with identical rent determinants? Or that the same level of rents is determined by different drivers? The paper analyses the regional territorial structure and aims at determining the geographical rental submarkets based on urban / peri-urban delimitation. Traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) techniques are applied. With the latter method, the spatial autocorrelation in the residuals decreases, but remains significant. Particular attention is payed to the spatial distribution of the GWR coefficients. The Chow test and the weighted standard error provide an evidence of the existence of spatial-structural submarkets in the agglomerations and in the peri-urban areas in the biggest residential urban complexes of the region. The calculated market rent of a hypothetical standardized dwelling reveals a substantial dissimilarity between two areas: the rent of a typical dwelling is higher in peri-urban zones, up to 43.5% according to the OLS and up to 17.7% according to the GWR. With more recent dataset, we found that this tendency, which contradicts the classical urban theory, increases in time.

Examining Rental Housing Affordability Among Eastern Ethiopian Cities

The rental sector had been neglected in government housing policy as well as in the local government's resource allocation, though it apprehended a large number of urban dwellers and which will undoubtedly continue in the future. The objective of this study is to examine the rental housing affordability and its implication for low-income households. Specifically, it tried to critically evaluate the characteristics of rental housing, examined how affordable rental housing is and identify the legal and regulatory frameworks governing the rental housing market and finally based on the findings tried to devise a possible alternative that can enhance rental housing affordability. Questionnaires were distributed to 1162 rental households and officials were interviewed to capture their experience on regulatory and administrative issues. Global and local experiences on government housing policy and strategies revealed that the rental housing was less emphasized or in some cases, it was totally ignored. However, inter-census results population of confirmed that rental sectors had contributed a lot in addressing the residential needs of the urban poor and the contribution of the sector in addressing the housing needs are raised from 45percent to 54percent and the reverse is true for the case of home ownership. Results from the survey report confirmed that the rental levels in the sample cities were at the threshold levels. However, this does not mean that rent is affordable; rather the lessee had compromised with the adequacy of housing in order to avoid high rental price. Therefore, government should devise alternatives to promote rental sectors through regulation and policy interventions. Among the possible measures, getting rental housing on the larger urban policy is the first and most important intervention. Government should regulate the rental market through regulatory and policy measures by making balance the interests of both landlords and renters. Keywords: Rent, need for a rental housing, private renters, affordability measures DOI : 10.7176/JPID/50-05 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Examining Rental Housing Affordability Among Eastern Ethiopian Cities

The rental sector had been neglected in government housing policy and in the local government's resource allocation, though it apprehended a large number of urban dwellers and which will undoubtedly continue in the future. The study aimed to examine the rental housing affordability, assess rental housing characteristics, identify factors which determined rental affordability and devised alternatives to promote rental housing affordability. About 651 questionnaires were distributed to rental households and government officials were interviewed to capture experience on rental regulatory and administrative issues. Global and local experiences on government housing policy and strategies revealed that the rental housing was less emphasized or sometimes, it was totally ignored. However, results from inter-census survey report revealed that the rental sectors had contributed much in addressing the residential needs of the urban poor and the contribution of the sector in addressing the housing needs were raised from 45 percent to 54 percent. Results from the logistic regression analysis indicated us the rental levels in the sample cities were in the threshold at least for 60 percent of the households. However, this event does not mean that rent is affordable; rather the lessee had a compromised adequacy of housing with monthly rental price to be in acceptable range. Therefore, the government should devise alternatives to promote rental sectors through regulation and policy interventions. Among the possible measures, getting rental housing on the larger urban policy is the first and central intervention. The government should regulate the rental market through regulatory and policy measures by making balance the interests of both landlords and renters. Keywords : need for rental housing, rent affordability, housing condition, measures of affordability DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-6-01 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Identifying booms and busts in house prices under heterogeneous expectations

We introduce heterogeneous expectations in a standard housing market model linking housing rental levels to fundamental buying prices. Using quarterly data we estimate the model parameters for eight different countries, US, UK, NL, JP, CH, ES, SE and BE. We find that the data support heterogeneity in expectations, with temporary endogenous switching between fundamental mean-reverting and trend-following chartists beliefs based on their relative performance. For all countries we identify temporary house price bubbles, amplified by trend extrapolation, and crashes reinforced by fundamentalists. The qualitative predictions of such non-linear models are very different from standard linear benchmarks, with important policy implications. The fundamental price becomes unstable, e.g. when the interest rate is set too low or mortgage tax deductions too high, giving rise to multiple non-fundamental equilibria and/or global instability.

Capital Share Dynamics When Firms Insure Workers

ABSTRACTAlthough the aggregate capital share of U.S. firms has increased, capital share at the firm‐level has decreased. This divergence is due to mega‐firms that produce a larger output share without a proportionate increase in labor compensation. We develop a model in which firms insure workers against firm‐specific shocks, with more productive firms allocating more rents to shareholders, while less productive firms endogenously exit. Increasing firm‐level risk delays exit and increases the measure of mega‐firms, raising (lowering) the aggregate (average) capital share. An increase in the level of rents magnifies this effect. We present evidence that supports this mechanism.

Trends, Costs, and Benefits of Green Certification of Office Buildings: A Polish Perspective

Green buildings may become the solution to the problem of high energy consumption, including those that are subject to verification by the relevant institutions issuing green certificates. The aim of the paper is an analysis and a brief discussion of trends related to the certification of office buildings in Poland. At the end of 2017, almost 9.7 million m2 of modern office space was available in Poland, of which 62% was a certified area. This constitutes a five percent increase in the share of certified office space in relation to the total modern office space available during 2017. In order to compare the costs and benefits of certified buildings, the costs of an office building and a certified building were simulated. The comparison was made using the idea of costs in the life cycle and calculating the Life Cycle Cost. The difference between the base building and the green one was mainly based on obtaining higher Net Present Value with lower investment expenditures for the green building. There was also a clear difference between the beginning of investment profitability for the different levels of rent.

Domicide: displacement and dispossessions in Uppsala, Sweden

ABSTRACT This article investigates the lived experiences of tenants staying put in two neighborhoods undergoing urban renewal processes and increased rent levels in Uppsala, Sweden. The article is drawing on a place sensitive analysis to escape a ‘Euclidean prison’ that we contend underpin many displacement studies; studies that reduce the notion of displacement to only signify out-migration. Such studies often miss both the scope of displacement, and the grievances experienced by tenants following changes in place and space under various urban transformation processes. Through phenomenologically inspired interviews with tenants, we contend that place cannot, as it often is in practices of urban development, simply be understood as coordinates on a map, but has to be understood relationally. Adhering to such a place-sensitive understanding of space our study asks what changes to place and to ‘home’ is experienced by tenants staying put in neighborhoods under increasing displacement pressures. What surfaces is a series of displacements that can be categorized as spatial dispossessions; thematized under subcategories ‘contraction of home’ and ‘withering entitlements’, and temporal dispossessions; categorized under ‘life on hold’ and ‘erasure of history’. These displacements are suffered by tenants who despite displacement pressures have remained throughout the renewal process.

Rental Housing Market in Riga: Price Determinants and Lesson Keys of Helsinki

Abstract The research focuses on the rental housing market in Riga and reveals that among factors that affect the rent level in neighbourhoods of Riga the most are distance from the city centre, neighbourhood safety, quality of housing and transport infrastructure, access to shopping malls, and employment opportunities. The aim of the research is to analyse the housing market in Riga, by putting a special focus on price determinants and lesson keys of Helsinki. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in the paper with the biggest contribution being extraction and analysis of data about more than 1800 rental apartments in Riga from the largest Latvian online real estate advertisement platform. Quantitative analysis is based on investigating relationships between average rent levels in different neighbourhoods of Riga and index values of 23 urban environment factors. In addition, the rental housing market in Helsinki is researched, emphasising few guidelines for rental housing market improvements in Riga, such as introducing government subsidies.

Property rents in medieval English towns: Hull in the fourteenth century

ABSTRACT:Property rents in medieval towns were an important source of income for property-owners including the king, local lords and civic authorities, and a significant expense for local residents. This article examines the causes of variation in property rents in fourteenth-century Hull, an important international port with unique records on plot dimensions. It illuminates the topography and growth of the port, identifying locations where rents were highest, and particular streets which attracted premium rents. Civic and mercantile property-owners are examined through reconstruction of their biographies and the impact of the identity of owners on rent levels is assessed.

A Performance Assessment of Local Authorities in Managing Public Housing in Ghana

The level of maintenance and the condition of public housing has been a significant concern for tenants and housing researchers alike. The state of public housing is often a reflection of its local authority managers and the policy that surrounds it. This paper assesses the performance of local authorities in the management of public housing in Ghana. Data was collected through interviews with local authority housing officers and tenants as well as a small sample survey of tenants. The performance of the authorities mentioned above was measured by three factors; adequacy (house types and quantity), decency (maintenance and satisfaction with maintenance), and affordability (rent levels). The paper concludes that the current state of Ghanaian public housing, when measured against its mandate to provide adequate, decent and affordable housing to beneficiary government workers is substandard due to underperforming local authorities (LAs). The paper suggests that rent policy should be reviewed to empower LAs to self-determine and collect rent. Rents in the public housing sector should be reviewed to realistic levels so that they may generate funds for maintenance. Housing policy should institute internal and external mechanisms to monitor the performance of LAs in the management of public housing.

The allocation of rental assistance resources: the paradox of high housing costs and high vacancy rates

ABSTRACTThe United States follows a dual strategy to address housing affordability problems among low-income renter households. The dual strategy is premised on a demand-side programme for soft markets and a supply-side programme for tight markets. An examination of housing markets in the US shows that market conditions do not provide much justification for the supply-side approach. Most markets are simultaneously experiencing high rents with high vacancy rates suggesting that the demand-side, voucher approach is better suited to current needs in these markets. High rents drive affordability problems, but the high rent levels appear to be unrelated to market tightness. The implications are that, in most markets, supply-side programmes are not well suited to current market conditions, that expansion of the stock of housing through supply-side programmes will not bring down rents, and that ample units exist to facilitate the implementation of an expanded demand-side programme.

Emprendimiento y economía informal: caracterización empírica de la empresa española a partir de los datos del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

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 El objetivo de este trabajo es describir y analizar el perfil de las empresas españolas que ejercen su actividad dentro de la economía informal, utilizando el método directo de la encuesta proveniente de la base de datos Global Entrepreneurship Monitor –GEM-. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo una revisión del concepto y métodos de estimación de la economía informal, así como una comparativa internacional para contextualizar la situación española. Así mismo, se ha utilizado un modelo de regresión logística para identificar las características que explican los diferentes niveles de economía informal en España. Los resultados muestran que las empresas nacientes, constituidas por necesidad, creadas por emprendedores menores de 42 años y pertenecientes al sector servicios presentan una mayor probabilidad de operar en la economía informal. La región donde se constituye la empresa y el nivel de renta del emprendedor también influyen en los niveles de economía informal.

For People With Disabilities, A Fight For Access To Housing.

The City of Los Angeles continues to struggle to make available housing that is both affordable and accessible.

COOPERATION OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY FORMATION FOR THE PREVENTION OF MONEY-LAUNDERING


 
 
 This article is devoted to the research of theoretical and practical issues of international institutions concerning the cooperation on the formation of anti-money laundering state regulation. The article provides an analysis of the main activity fields of intergovernmental institutions in the prevention of launder- ing “dirty” money. It is shown that the goal of consolidating the efforts of interna- tional structures is to integrate standards and recommendations into the mecha- nisms of public administration in order to ensure financial stability and integrity of state development as well as better financial supervision and control by the state.It is noted that the problem of money laundering can not be solved only by creating new organizational forms of state control, extraordinary and punitive measures. It requires understanding of this phenomenon as having an economic, political, ethical, managerial and legal background. The process of state regulation of money laundering should apply to all employees of state authorities, adminis- tration, justice, (stipulated by the legislation of a number of countries) and public entities with public service functions, and not just so-called officials. Important regulations for the forms and procedures for monitoring civil servants, the avai- lability and effectiveness of the code of ethics and behavior. It is substantiated that the effectiveness of implementing measures to prevent corruption can not be achieved through single and non-systemic actions at diffe- rent levels, but requires long-term socio-economic, political and legal transforma- tions. This activity should be based on a combination of a number of preventive and repressive measures.Thus, the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is now consi- dered as a priority direction in counteracting organized crime in most countries of the world and in the world community as a whole.
 
 

THE EFFECTS OF REDLINING IN SINGAPORE’S RED-LIGHT DISTRICT

There are cities or regions with legal red-light districts in both developed and developing countries, but there are also regions or countries with no clear rules regarding prostitution. Financing issues in red-light districts represent another aspect rarely examined in the academic world. Most research studies about redlining are focused on racial or poverty levels, but this paper investigates it in relation to moral issues concerning vice activities. The objectives of this paper are to firstly analyse the red-light phenomenon in relation to sales prices and rent prices, secondly to test the redlining effect on property markets. This paper contributes to the current academic literature. The research setting of this paper is Geylang, Singapore, a place known for its centralized location, 24/7 stores, historic locales and prostitution-related business. The results indicate that the existence of Singapore’s red-light district has a negative effect on both residential purchase prices and rent levels. The results also indicate that there exists a redlining effect since the home prices have a much higher dis-count than rents.

The influence of rapid rail systems on office values: A case study on South Africa

This study identifies the influence of rapid rail systems on property values, with a focus on office buildings in South Africa. It is based on a limited sample of office properties, analysed using MRA to investigate pre-implementation values and rent to post-implementation data. It attempts to confirm if distance from the train stations influences these variables. Evidence is found that distance from the station does have a positive impact on rental levels and property values. The limited data-set, however, causes inadequate levels of statistical significance in some variables, arguably due to the small sample or model specification error due to information availability for research. The positive influence of rapid rail systems found on office values has important implications for property investors, developers, financiers and taxing authorities. This is important amidst a period of extension planning, whereby this research could provide useful information for decision-making and analysis and offers a valuable contribution to the methods to measure the impact of rapid rail systems on property values, although currently limited to office buildings. Furthermore, this research is contributing to the body of knowledge, especially in developing markets, where advanced public transport systems need to be implemented for the first time.

Pharmacist Intervention Program at Different Rent Levels of Geriatric Healthcare.

As a pharmacy service giving pharmaceutical care at different levels of health care for elderly people, we needed a standardization procedure for recording and evaluating pharmacists’ interventions. Our objective was to homogenize pharmacist interventions; to know physicians’ acceptance of our recommendations, as well as the most prevalent drug related problems (DRP); and the impact of the pharmacists’ interventions. To achieve this goal we conducted a one year prospective study at two levels of health care: 176 nursing homes (EAR) (8828 patients) and 2 long-term and subacute care hospitals (HSS) (268 beds). Pharmacists’ interventions were recorded using the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists classification as the basis. Frequency of the different DRP and the level of response and acceptance on the part of physicians was determined. The Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) was used to evaluate the impact of the interventions on the prescription quality. Patients’ mean age was 84.2 (EAR) and 80.7 (HSS), and in both cases, polypharmacy ≥ 9 drugs was around 63–69%. There were 4073 interventions done in EAR and 2560 in HSS. Level of response: 44% (EAR), 79% (HSS); degree of acceptance of the recommendations: 84% (EAR), 72% (HSS). Most frequent DRP: inappropriate dose, length of therapy, omissions, and financial impact. Drugs for the nervous system are those with the most DRP. MAI values/medication improved from 4.4 to 2.7 (EAR) and 3.8 to 1.7 (HSS). A normalized way of managing pharmacists’ interventions for different health care levels has been established. We are on the way to increasing collaborative work with physicians and we know which DRPs are most prevalent.

CEO Tenure, Market Competition, and Sticky Pay‐without‐performance as the Extraction of Rents

AbstractThis study examines the undesirable impact of CEO tenure on downwardly sticky pay, and the moderating effect of higher market competition on the potential adhesive connection between CEO tenure and sticky pay. We find that CEO pay stickiness intensifies as CEO tenure increases. This suggests that entrenched executives extract greater levels of baseline rents through strong exclusivity. In contrast, we find that in firms with long‐tenured CEOs, higher levels of competition intensity alleviate CEO pay stickiness. These results imply that although long‐tenured CEOs tend to exert a powerful influence over the pay‐setting process, increased competition restrains CEOs’ rent‐seeking behavior.