Arno van der Vlist

On the interaction between landownership and regional designs for land development

This paper examines how landownership patterns are, partially, both a result of and a condition for the designs that planners make for sites. Designs emerge in the process of arriving at a development plan, preceding formal plans and decisions. We claim that during that process, landownership and designs are responsive to each other. To explore this interaction, we analysed two large development projects in the Netherlands. These two projects involve regional designs followed by anticipatory land acquisition by private and public agents. For these projects we reconstructed a timeline for the designing process that we positioned parallel to the changes in landownership. The result shows that the governments that took the lead in the projects added more detail to the plans only after they secured their active role for themselves by acquiring a dominant ownership position on sites eventually meant for housing. This analysis prompts an ethical discussion on government’s double role in active land policy.This paper examines how landownership patterns are, partially, both a result of and a condition for the designs that planners make for sites. Designs emerge in the process of arriving at a development plan, preceding formal plans and decisions. We claim that during that process, landownership and designs are responsive to each other. To explore this interaction, we analysed two large development projects in the Netherlands. These two projects involve regional designs followed by anticipatory land acquisition by private and public agents. For these projects we reconstructed a timeline for the designing process that we positioned parallel to the changes in landownership. The result shows that the governments that took the lead in the projects added more detail to the plans only after they secured their active role for themselves by acquiring a dominant ownership position on sites eventually meant for housing. This analysis prompts an ethical discussion on government’s double role in active land policy.

Institutional Differences in European Metropolitan Commercial Real Estate Markets

The authors aim to extend previous literature on variations in returns across local office markets by examining the linkage of office and retail market dynamics to the institutional structure at the European metropolitan level. Previous literature suggests that return rates differ widely across local markets, substantiating the view that returns are intertwined with conditions at local level. Whether and to what degree differences in local markets relate to differences in institutions has not been addressed. This is the central issue of this chapter. The research design consists of three coherent steps to address the central issue. First, we address the issue of how institutions may determine differences in office and retail market dynamics. We use current contributions in literature, culminating in a concise review of literature on office and retail market behaviour and institutions. Second, we aim to measure the degree of differences in office and retail market returns. For this we use data across European metropolitan areas. Finally, we consider the interrelations between real estate markets and institutions to explain the observed differences. For this we model market returns now including the various institutional measures. These results indicate which and to what degree the various institutional measures explain observed differences in local commercial real estate market dynamics.

On information and communication technology and production cost in construction industry: evidence from the Netherlands

The interplay between information and communication technology (ICT) and the competitiveness of construction firms is considered. More specifically, the question is whether firms that invest in information and communication technology have a production cost advantage. The economics literature hypothesizes that ICT brings about a production cost advantage, as ICT brings flexibility and improves the planning, organization and control of work. To test this proposition for the construction industry, a production cost function allowing for the inclusion of ICT is formulated. Using statistical nearest-neighbour matching methods it is possible to identify the effect of ICT on production costs thereby controlling for economic moderators. Data from a sample of Dutch construction firms reveal that those firms that installed ICT capital do have a production cost advantage. The results indicate further that firms need a minimum level of ICT capital to fully benefit from its production cost advantage.

Environmental technology and management in Dutch horticulture

An important strategy for a firm to improve its environmental performance is adoption of environmentally friendly technology. However, technology switching is often hampered by high investments costs. If the environmental friendly technology would also lead to an increase in technical efficiency firms might more easily decide to switch technology. However, the empirical evidence for improved technical efficiency is still very scarce. In this article, we analyse technical performance under different environmental regimes in a sample of small and medium sized enterprises in Dutch horticulture. Some firms use traditional technology while others use modern technology. The latter is more environmentally friendly than the former in terms of use of energy and water. We apply a stochastic production frontier framework to analyse the impacts of environmental technologies on technical efficiency. The data is obtained from a stratified sample of Dutch greenhouse firms included in the so-called Farm Accountancy Data Network and the LEI Innovation monitor. The main result is that new, environmentally friendly technology improves technical efficiency.

Zoning change, anticipation behaviour and land value: a case study on overage payments

Capitalization effects in agricultural land value of a regional planning design are investigated. A recent case on regional design in which property rights are well-defined is used to theorize on market value of agricultural land in a situation of re-zoning. Our case-study shows that land prices increased rapidly in anticipation of a zoning change which reflects the underlying option value. Legal transfer documents furthermore reveal that overage clauses are agreed upon by parties as well. These overage clauses will be exercised ex post only if the regional design is successfully completed to anticipated zoning and land-use. This finding has important theoretical implications as such overage payments have neither been considered in appraisal standards, nor of compensation schemes in expropriation. Our theoretical stand is that ex-post overage payments while important drivers in bargaining are not part of existing definitions of property value. Our case shows that at odds to international valuation standards these agreed overage payments are nevertheless included by the Dutch Tax Authority in a recent tax claim.

Investment, Expectations and Uncertainty: Empirical Evidence on the Relevance of Firm Size

This paper analyses the effect of uncertainty on investment spending. We analyse twotypes of investment, i.e. aggregate investment and investment in energy saving technologies,using subjective evaluations of expectations and uncertainty of Dutch firms in 1997. Weestimate several models distinguishing between small and large firms. The results suggest thatinvestments in energy saving technologies in small firms are largely cost driven, whereas inlarge firms they are an integral part of general investment spending. Furthermore, expectationsand uncertainty have important although different effects on investment spending in small andlarge firms. We find evidence, at least for small firms, that there are important differencesbetween the effects of uncertainty around input and output variables.