Maria Ibanez

Productivity Improvements

Maria R. Ibanez — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:49:30 PST

Analysis of mechanisms through which productivity improvements occurs and composition of productivity gains in the context of an assembly plant of a major auto producer

If All the Economists Were Laid End to End, Would They Reach a Conclusion? By Steven D. Levitt

Maria R. Ibanez — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:51:49 PST

Freakonomics Blog Post

Exploring Managerial Response to Inventory Ordering When Faced with Supply and Demand Disruption Probabilities

Maria R. Ibanez — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:38:37 PST

The purpose of this article is to describe the effects of demand and supply uncertainty and risk aversion on organizational decision making for inventory level.

Transportation and Industrial Property Rents in Chicago

Maria R. Ibanez — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:15:27 PDT

There are many factors to be considered in the decision of which industrial property to lease. With expenditures on transportation and cost of logistics accounting for 4.8 and 7.7% of GDP, respectively, transportation is a central component of total costs for most businesses and therefore relevant to strategic decisions of where to locate the firm. The closer businesses locate to transportation infrastructure (e.g. airports, roads, highways, railroads, high-speed railways, public transport, airports, waterways or ports), the lower the shipping costs, particularly in an environment of rising fuel costs. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that transportation access (an attribute of location) to a network of highways, airports, rail lines, and ports is perceived as a key benefit of the industrial property. The relevance of transportation costs for property values already appears on initial models of urban residential structure, i.e., the mono-centric model of Alonso (1964), and the model of land use of von Thünen (1966). To date, most studies on the impact of transport infrastructure on real estate focus on the negative externalities such as noise or contamination from aircraft and road traffic, probably because they cover the residential markets (Conroy and Milosch, 2011). This research looks at the proximity to transportation from an industrial user perspective, and we expect this proximity will bring positive market advantages to property-owners through higher rents.

Explaining Commercial Rents in Major U.S. Metropolitan Areas Using an Error Correction Model with Panel Data

Maria R. Ibanez — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:03:55 PST

This project presents rent models for flexible, industrial, retail and office properties in the Unites States. Panel data are used covering the largest fifty metropolitan areas in the U.S. for 27 years (1982-2009) to analyze the determinants of rents.

Commercial Property Rent Dynamics in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: An Examination of Office, Industrial, Flex and Retail Space

Maria R. Ibanez et al. — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:27:28 PST

This paper is concerned with the market rental rate for space offered by commercial property and how that rental rate evolves over time. Rental rates reflect the value of the services provided by the property and can have a significant impact on the ability of its owners to make monthly debt obligations. We investigate commercial property rent dynamics for 34 large metropolitan areas in the U.S. The dynamics are studied from the second quarter of 1990 through the second quarter of 2009 and the results are compared across four property types or uses (office, industrial, flex, and retail). There is substantial heterogeneity in both the long and short run responses to changing demand and supply conditions. In general, the office market is the slowest to adjust back towards equilibrium while industrial and flex markets adjust back to the long run equilibrium very quickly. For industrial and office types, the speed of adjustment is substantially faster within quality segments and is strongest for grade A properties.

Commercial Property Rent Dynamics in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: An Examination of Office, Industrial, Flex and Retail Space, with Anthony Pennington-Cross

Maria R. Ibanez — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:28:25 PDT

Análisis de la Sostenibilidad del Proyecto de Producción y Venta de Huevos de la Granja Nueva Vida, Guatemala

Maria R. Ibanez — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:42:58 PDT

El presente documento analiza la sostenibilidad del proyecto de producción y venta de huevos de la Casa Nueva Vida, localizada en las cercanías de Santa Cruz de Quiché, Guatemala. En el primer apartado, se presentan los resultados del análisis financiero, en el segundo, el estudio de mercado, y en el tercero, las recomendaciones. Finalmente, se recogen las conclusiones del informe.

Hybrid Specification Model of Business Cycles Theories

Maria R. Ibanez — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:53 PDT

Even when short, fluctuations in aggregate output, employment and inflation may create immense problems in the society. Accordingly, economists try to understand these oscillations between prosperity and recession in full, in order to predict and moderate them. This report presents a hybrid model of three different theories to explain the short-term fluctuations in economic activity, which are commonly known as business cycles.

Using US quarterly data from 1959:Q1 to 2008:Q3. 1959:1, we conclude that the Keynesian, new classical and real business-cycle theories provide different elements that can help explain business cycles. Our analysis suggests that the determinants of business cycles in the United States are the recent past values of the unemployment rate, the Moody’s AAA bond yield, the growth of real expenditures in national defense, the productivity measured as monetary compensation and the growth rate of the nominal M2.

Honduras and Guatemala: Monetary Policies Comparison

Maria R. Ibanez — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:12:03 PDT

This report compares the monetary policies of Honduras and Guatemala.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) versus US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP): Annual Reports Comparison

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:05:36 PDT

This paper checks the compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by ESCADA and compares how clear and comprehensive reporting is for each of the areas covered by the IFRS with how a domestic company, Polo Ralph Lauren, reports under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Quality of Earnings Analysis: General Mills

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:03:17 PDT

This paper analyzes the quality of earnings report through the study of the accounting methods and financial statements of this major corporation. The objectives were to identify the complexities of business transactions and their effect on earnings quality, to write using accounting and business terminology in an efficient and understandable manner, and justify a conclusion about the corporation’s accounting methods and the quality of its annual reports.

The Role of Education in Development: An Econometric Analysis of the Impact of Education on Economic Growth in Argentina

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:59:45 PDT

This paper quantifies the impact that education has had on economic growth in Argentina. Education is a key factor for a country development also reducing excesses in fertility rates, creating a social environment that improve productive investment, making workers more productive and voters more prepared. We find that, for the period 1971-1999, the economic growth in Argentina was positively related to the growth of physical capital, the growth of human capital, the government expenditure as a share of GDP, the flow of time (trend), and the growth of labor force; and it was negatively related to inflation and dictatorships regimes.

Opportunities and Limits to Growth by Nature: The Role of Natural Resources in Economic Growth and Development

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:56:05 PDT

This paper studies the role of natural resources in economic growth. We argue that the growth rate of income per worker is negatively related to the rate of population growth and the extraction rate of exhaustible energy reserves, while positively related to the growth of the level of technology and the enlargement of human capital. We test this model using panel data for the period 1970-2006, and find satisfactory results.

The Role of Homeownership in the Labor Market

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:49:56 PDT

This paper examines the impact of homeownership on the labor market. Literature tends to confirm that homeowners have lower geographical mobility, which leads to worse labor mobility. Labor and locational mobility is the underlying argument of the so-called Oswald hypothesis, which states that housing tenure leads to inferior labor market outcomes. Although this hypothesis is theoretically sound, empirical works have shown that homeownership does not necessarily increases unemployment duration and/or rates.

Comments on “The Importance of Wealth and Income in the Transition to Homeownership,” by Di and Liu (2007)

Maria Ibanez — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:54:40 PDT

Comments on “Assessing the Predictive Power of Labor-Market Indicators of Inflation,” by Farrokh Nourzad

Maria Ibanez — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:27:47 PDT