Nasser Daneshvary

Estimating the House Foreclosure Discount Corrected for Spatial Price Interdependence and Endogeneity of Marketing Time

Most previous empirical research estimates a greater than 20% discount associated with the sale of foreclosed properties. Under the assumption that the real estate market is somewhat efficient, such a large discount would be counterintuitive. We argue, and empirically show, that the estimated foreclosure coefficients in most of the previous research are upward biased because they do not control for variables such as the physical condition of the property and the relationship between marketing time and price. Accounting for these factors and correcting for two types of spatial price interdependence, our results show that estimates of foreclosure discount reported by previous studies are about one-third higher than the true discount caused by foreclosure per se.

Toxic Neighbors: Foreclosures and Short‐Sales Spillover Effects from the Current Housing‐Market Crash

Do home foreclosures and short sales equally affect neighbors? On average, no‐default homes sell anytime up to 6 months after sales of foreclosed neighbors suffer a cumulative spillover effect of about 10%. Including the market trend, the total effect increases to 40%. Controlling for foreclosure effects, short sales do not produce additional spillover effects. We apply a modified hedonic model to estimate spillover effects on neighbors, using January 2008 to June 2009 home transactions from one of the most impacted housing markets. Our findings apply to severely “thin” markets and may not be true for stable markets. We show that accurate estimates of spillover effects require correcting for the market trend, two types of time and spatial price interdependence, and the endogenous neighborhood price.

Efficiency and costs in education: year-round versus traditional schedules

Abstract This study explores the cost savings (efficiency) of a year-round schedule versus a traditional 9-month schedule for schools in Clark County, Nevada. Unlike many previous studies, the cost of real estate capital is included in the estimated cost functions. The sample includes 115 elementary schools, 26 with a year-round schedule, and the study finds that this schedule not only produces efficiencies in the cost of capital area but also in other areas such as operations. These efficiencies are evident after taking into account the usual average daily attendance, test performance scores, and socioeconomic variables that are customarily used in such studies. The existence and size of efficiencies discovered in this study have implications for those school districts that face a rapidly growing student population.

Previous Marriage and the Lesbian Wage Premium

This paper provides insight into the wage gap between partnered lesbians and other groups of women. Using data from the 2000 Decennial Census, we find that wages of never-married lesbians are significantly higher than wages of previously married lesbians and other groups of women. Results indicate that controlling for previous marriage reduces the estimated lesbian wage premium by approximately 20 percent. Our research also reveals that wage patterns of previously married lesbians mirror those of cohabiting heterosexual women. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that the lesbian wage premium is driven, in part, by differences in the labor-market commitment of lesbians and heterosexual women.

Black Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market: An Earnings Analysis:

This article investigates the existence and sources of earnings differentials between black Americans and black immigrants, and between black and nonblack immigrants. Employing the Public Use Sample of the 1980 census, the gross earnings differentials between black immigrants and black Americans are estimated to be 8.7 percent in favor of Americans (i.e., Americans earn 8.7 percent more than immigrants). About 2 percentage points and 6.7 percentage points of the gross differential are, respectively, due to differences in average characteristics and in returns to the characteristics. The gross differential between black and nonblack immigrants is 22.1 percent in favor of nonblack, of which 13.8 percentage points are due to differences in average characteristics and 8.3 are due to differences in returns to characteristics.

Determinants of demand for professional rodeo attendance.

Large numbers of people migrated to the West in the years following the Civil War. Tales of adventure in the West spread throughout the country. The fascination of Easterners with the West was evidenced by the popularity of the Wild West Shows staged by William F. Cody. Subsequently, rodeos emerged and gained in popularity as a form of entertainment. By the 1980s over six hundred rodeos per year were sponsored by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), which is the largest association in the industry (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, 1988). The number of rodeos has increased by 11 percent from 1953 to 1987 and the inflation-adjusted average prize money rose by 40 percent. Although dispersed throughout the country (forty-five states in 1981), most rodeos are still located in the West. The reasons for their popularity have been the subject of much discussion; however, no empirical analysis of the reasons for rodeo attendance exists.