This paper seeks first to build up a game‐theoretic model of the interactions of two agents ‐ a husband and a wife ‐ in a short story about sincere selection of a strategy of…
Abstract
This paper seeks first to build up a game‐theoretic model of the interactions of two agents ‐ a husband and a wife ‐ in a short story about sincere selection of a strategy of self‐sacrifice, and then to find out a solution of the model. This formal model as well as informal analysis is employed to argue that the conventional virtue of everybody's choice of a strategy of sacrifice for others in a group, especially when these strategies are uncoordinated, may ultimately lead to social vice, i.e. irrational behaviour and attempts at rationalization of it by all.
Abstract
Aesthetic jurisprudence must take seriously the myth of community,1 the antagonistic of intimacy; love and death.2 Myth, however, must also be seized in its peculiarity. Rather than affirming coherence or the pattern of the past, it is a discourse that undoes itself. Indeed, myth does not provide a comforting story of belonging and foundations, it reminds us of the antagonisms of the human condition and the problematic nature of thought itself.
Michael Regan, Peter E.D. Love and Jim Jim
Adversarial contracting methods are used for most public infrastructure procurement and timely delivery on budget remains a problem. In the past 20 years, OECD countries have…
Abstract
Adversarial contracting methods are used for most public infrastructure procurement and timely delivery on budget remains a problem. In the past 20 years, OECD countries have adopted a number of alternative procurement methods that are based on collaborative principles including public private partnerships, long-term outsourcing arrangements and relationship/alliance contracts. We review the theoretical principles that operate for both adversarial and collaborative contracting methods. We identify the characteristics of non-adversarial contracting methods such as the output specification, qualitative selection criteria, the alignment of incentives, discrete allocation of residual control rights, life cycle costing, and risk-weighted value for money measurement that are delivering better procurement outcomes for government.
The paper attempts to examine the impacts of neighborhood types, as defined by a gated‐guarded neighborhood with landscape compound and a freehold tenure neighborhood on…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper attempts to examine the impacts of neighborhood types, as defined by a gated‐guarded neighborhood with landscape compound and a freehold tenure neighborhood on residential property values in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A weighted least squares method together with a heteroscedasticity consistent covariance matrix estimator is used to estimate the coefficients of structural, locational and neighborhood attributes of dwellings on house prices.
Findings
Results show that the gated‐guarded neighborhood with landscape compound could increase residential property values by 18.1 per cent. Additionally, the positive perception of a freehold property in the neighborhood could induce a price premium of 23.7 per cent.
Research limitations/implications
It is reasonable to believe that neighborhood types play a role in determining residential property values.
Practical implications
In order to meet the increasingly affluent and discerning house buyers, developers, instead of just offering dream homes in prime locations, should provide intangible benefits in the neighborhood that are just as sought after by today's house buyers – such as a sense of security in the landscape compound, a feeling of harmony with one's surroundings and an infrastructure which supports the lifestyle of house buyers.
Originality/value
House buyers in Malaysia are increasingly aware of the value of gated‐guarded and freehold neighborhoods. However, there is little evidence to assess the value provided by such neighborhoods in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The paper aims to determine the responsiveness of the willingness to pay to changes in neighborhood types.
Laurence J. Peter, in his best selling book, The Peter Principle, argued that individuals are promoted to their level of incompetence. He saw this progression as being typified by…
Abstract
Laurence J. Peter, in his best selling book, The Peter Principle, argued that individuals are promoted to their level of incompetence. He saw this progression as being typified by successive promotion from success at lower levels until the individual gets to a point where he is described as inefficient. The Peter Principle has been accepted because it described clearly and vividly the experience of individuals and of organisations, but we believe that whilst it is descriptively correct, it is only partially true in its conclusions.
The purpose of this paper is to test the export‐led growth hypothesis for South Asia, a diverse region consisting of one large country, India, surrounded by a number of medium and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the export‐led growth hypothesis for South Asia, a diverse region consisting of one large country, India, surrounded by a number of medium and small countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.
Design/methodology/approach
To test this, the study employs cointegration and error‐correction modelling, using data from the International Financial Statistics of the IMF.
Findings
The study produces fairly mixed results, and does not find any conclusive evidence in favour of export‐led growth. While India, Maldives and Nepal exhibit export‐led growth, Bangladesh and Bhutan show the opposite result of growth‐led exports. In Pakistan and Sri Lanka no causality in either direction was found. The mixed nature of the results is further confirmed by taking a common time period since 1980.
Practical implications
South Asia is one of the poorest regions of the world; so success or otherwise of export‐led growth is of great interest for policy purposes. For example, the finding of export‐led growth for the largest economy of the region, India, is particularly heartening as, by opening up its markets further to the other countries of the region, it can fuel growth in the entire region.
Originality/value
This study tries to fill an important gap in the literature as it is the first comprehensive study of the region as a whole.
Details
Keywords
THE LOOMING MASS OF BLACK COMBE, and the sky‐line of the central fells that he can see from his window—Scafell, Scafell Pike, Great End, Harter Fell, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags…
Abstract
THE LOOMING MASS OF BLACK COMBE, and the sky‐line of the central fells that he can see from his window—Scafell, Scafell Pike, Great End, Harter Fell, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Coniston Old Man—are among the great shaping influences in the work of Norman Nicholson. The fells, the rocks that make the fells, the becks and the rivers that flow down the fells all speak to him and through him. The other great influence on his writing is his religious belief. As he himself said recently in a radio broadcast: ‘The universe is not just a huge mechanical coffee‐grinder, ticking over and over without aim or purpose. It works to a pattern; it works to a plan. And part of the sheer enjoyment of being among mountains comes from our sometimes feeling swept up in the plan, where every end is a new beginning and every death a new birth.’
This paper examines the current uncertainty within real estate markets through the quotes of Dr. James A. Graaskamp, a real estate educator and researcher. Graaskamp focused his…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the current uncertainty within real estate markets through the quotes of Dr. James A. Graaskamp, a real estate educator and researcher. Graaskamp focused his teachings on real estate investment through the lens of risk management and risk mitigation. Using the current COVID 19 pandemic crisis as the backdrop, the author examines how we might learn from Graaskamp to look differently at real estate investments during these uncertain times when an external shock shakes a market, causing transactions to stall and sometimes freeze. In addition, she explores how we might learn from today's situation and make long-term changes to our built environment to have a better understanding of the risks associated with the current but also future pandemics and other uncertainties including natural disasters or climate change. The quotes were gathered by Jim Curtis, a student, friend and colleague of Dr. Graaskamp from the late 1970s until his death in 1988. Through these quotes, the author explores the many facets of the complex nature of the real estate asset class particularly during these very uncertain times created by the global pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a thought piece on the current uncertainty surrounding real estate markets around the globe caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. The author of this essay was also a student, friend and mentee of Jim Graaskamp's, so it is an oral history of her experiences with this well-known and iconic real estate educator and scholar.
Findings
As a discussion piece, this is not a traditional research project with empirical findings. It is an exploration of the current uncertain times caused by the COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on real estate markets. The author examines how the increased risk is currently, and will also continue to, significantly influence the fields of property investment and finance.
Practical implications
The James A. Graaskamp Collection on Teaching Materials compiled by the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association is not a widely recognized resource for real estate scholars and practitioners yet the two CDs contain a wealth of information and knowledge from an intelligent real estate expert. Used as the base for the discussion, this paper sheds light on the teachings and writings of Dr. Graaskamp. It illustrates the usefulness of the materials for other researchers and educators. In particular, it highlights Graaskamp focus on risk management and mitigation which he strongly believed were essential skills to understanding the complicated nature of a real estate investment and for making good investment decisions, particularly when markets are full of uncertainty as is the case during these current times of the global COVID 19 pandemic.
Originality/value
As one of only a handful of living and still practicing doctoral students of Professor Graaskamp, the author has a unique perspective and lens to attempt to interpret the quotes of this real estate expert. He was a leader in real estate education, particularly as it pertains to real estate valuation, feasibility and investment, and this essay draws out some of his more important lessons from his pithy and often humorous quotes.
Details
Keywords
Oluwole Alfred Olatunji, James Olabode Bamidele Rotimi, Funmilayo Ebun Rotimi and Chathurani C.W. Silva
Cost and schedule overruns are rife in dam projects. Normative evidence espouses overruns as though they are inimical to development and prosperity aspirations of stakeholders…
Abstract
Purpose
Cost and schedule overruns are rife in dam projects. Normative evidence espouses overruns as though they are inimical to development and prosperity aspirations of stakeholders. This study examines the causal relationship between project financing and overruns.
Design/methodology/approach
Causative data were extracted from completion reports of 28 major dam projects in Africa. Each of the projects was financed jointly by up to 10 international development lenders. Relationships between causes of overruns and project outcomes were analysed.
Findings
Analyses elicit indicators of remarkable correlations between finance procedures and project outcomes. Lenders’ disposition to risk attenuation was the main debacles to project success. Interests had mounted, whilst release of fund was erratic and ill-timed. Finance objectives and mechanisms were grossly inadequate for projects’ intense bifurcations. Projects had slowed or stalled because lenders’ risks attenuation processes were purposed to favour lenders’ objectives, and not projects’ interests. In addition, findings also show project owners’ own funds and the number of lenders to a single project correlate with overruns.
Practical implications
Findings imply commercial complexities around major projects. They also show transactions are shaped by subtle (mis)trust behaviours in project finance procedures. Thus, scholarly solutions to project performance issues should consider behavioural issues of stakeholding parties more broadly, beyond contractors and project owners. Project finance ecosystems are vulnerable to major actors’ self-interests, opportunism and predatory conducts. Borrowers would manage this by developing and improving their capacity to build resilience and trust. Evidence shows intense borrower nations in Africa have limited capacity and acuity for these.
Originality/value
This study contextualises megaprojects in complexity rather than cost. Its additionality is in how finance steers absolute control of project environment away from project owners and how finance administration triggers risks and overrun.