Calin Valsan

Canadian versus American Art: What Pays Off and Why

This study investigates the relationship between the market value of artand the nationality of the painter. A sample of modern and contemporaryCanadian and American paintings is analyzed using non-parametric testsand a hedonic regression model. The results show a significantrelationship between aesthetic painting characteristics, such as subjectmatter, and market valuation. In general, the price of Canadian art iswell below that of American art. Even after adjusting for paintingcharacteristics, Canadian paintings appear to be less expensive still.It is believed that Canadian painters looked at the Northern landscapeto define a national identity, thus playing to a limited audience, theonly that could relate to the beauty of the Canadian scenery. Thisprogrammatic approach could explain some of the aforementioneddifferences in market valuation.

The Invisible Hands Behind the Student Evaluation of Teaching: The Rise of the New Managerial Elite in the Governance of Higher Education

Abstract: We contend that the notion of teaching effectiveness has no verifiable empirical content and therefore the question of teaching score validity is misguided. Universities create knowledge, invest in human capital, and grant degrees, yet teaching scores are ill equipped to capture and evaluate any of these outcomes. In spite of well-documented shortcomings, virtually all universities in North America use teaching scores because they allow the managerial elite to legitimize their control over the affairs of academia in the broader context of university governance. Using the enabling myth of teaching scores, the bureaucrats shift the focus from the investment in human capital to the granting of degrees in order to re-cast higher education into an authoritative, vertically organized hierarchy, better suited for managerial rent-extraction and entrenchment.

2007: A Canadian Corporate Ownership Survey

This study documents a decline in the levels of corporate ownership concentration between 1996 and 2007. When compared to previous studies, the incidence of ownership stakes of 20% or larger has decreased form 60% to 41% of the total population of publicly listed Canadian firms. Regional disparities among provinces remain important. Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia have the most widely-held firms, while Quebec and Atlantic Canada show the most concentrated corporate ownership patterns. The interpretation of these results requires a complex understanding of historical, demographic, cultural, political and institutional factors.

Reservation Prices and Pre-Auction Estimates: A Study in Abstract Art

Using a sample of European abstract art we show that reservation prices constrain pre-auction estimates in such a way that we are more likely to observe overestimation relative to the midpoint of the estimation window. At the same time, we also find that the low pre-auction estimate is a more powerful, accurate and precise predictor of hammer prices than the high estimate.

Residential Real Estate in Europe: An Exploration of Common Risk Factors

Abstract We conduct an exploratory analysis using proxy measures of cross-sectional returns and rental yields in residential real estate. Asset pricing models predict that expected returns should exhibit some sensitivity to one or several fundamental variables that represent a common source of undiversifiable risk. Residential real estate, just like works of art and collectibles, is unique because it represents both an investment vehicle and a durable consumption good. Its pricing and returns should thus reflect both the benefits from portfolio diversification and the effect of supply and demand. In this paper, we investigate the variation in proxy returns and proxy rental yields across 34 major European cities, using a handful of independent variables that should account for the influence of market risk, inflation, and liquidity. In spite of obvious limitations stemming from our sample, we find that the explanatory power of our model is unusually high for a cross-sectional data analysis. Some of our findings concur with other studies showing that in spite of strong segmentation, real estate markets respond to the same structural risk factors. A good portion of our results, however, is hard to explain and interpret. Either we need to take into account cultural differences between Eastern and Western Europe as part of a behavioral approach, or we have to concede that we have been misled by the mismatch in the level of aggregation and the crude estimation of the dependent variables.

From Neo-Stalinism to Sluggish Markets: Transition in Romania

The study of post-communist economies in Eastern Europe continues to be a generous and insightful source of valuable lessons in social and economic transition, particularly when approached through the lenses of integration and globalization. The present chapter uses a vivid historical perspective to follow the Romanian economy and society through a long string of successive and consequential changes, culminating with the transition from communism to free markets. A crucial factor in this approach is to understand history as a complex, path dependent interaction. The main focus of the analysis is on the accumulation and depletion of social capital, before and after the communist regime. The rise of free markets is discussed in connection with the rise of consumerism, and it is argued that the long–term sustainability of any system, including, but not limited to post-communist Romania, depends on the interplay between social and natural capital. The looming economic and environmental challenges ahead can be handled only if social trust makes collective action possible.

The Governance of the Corporation

This monograph provides coverage of current corporate governance issues from a very holistic perspective by integrating knowledge from the fields of political economy, corporate governance, genetics, evolutionary psychology, computer science, sociology, and cultural studies. The book is intended for a relatively broad audience. It tries to popularize a relatively dry topic in finance and economics, while maintaining a decent level of rigorousness. Corporations represent large networks of individuals who make decisions based on the dominant culture of the hour. Over time, politics and culture have favored or inhibited the accumulation of social capital based on trust, and shaped the way we think about efficiency and morality. High trust societies have experienced a faster industrialization and a stronger growth in the private corporate sector. They also display larger networks of volunteers producing knowledge, communication and culture outside the predominant corporate model.

Property Rights and the Knowledge Economy

This paper outlines several important changes in our economic model brought about by the emergence of the knowledge economy. Until now, property rights have acquired a solid track record for being the most reliable and efficient societal device for coping with economic uncertainty. In the industrial age, property rights have made the separation between ownership and control tenable and have generated the now ubiquitous archetype of economic organization represented by the public corporation. In the knowledge economy, the most important factor of production is human capital, meaning that the importance of property rights is greatly diminished, as one cannot separate ownership from control without interfering with the right of self-ownership.