Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Mykel Taylor / Because Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts take land out of production for at least ten years, when deciding to enroll a parcel of land, a landowner must weigh the opportunity costs of hindering production flexibility against a guaranteed constant annual return. This thesis discusses whether having a CRP contract on a parcel of land in any way effects the value of that parcel. This is accomplished through the use of a hedonic model using data from 1998-2014 on Kansas agricultural land transactions. Results show that unlike in previous literature, while the effect of CRP is typically negative, it can become positive depending on the state of market factors at the time of the transaction.

Land is a composite good, the price of which varies with its characteristics, including proximity to amenities. Analysis of data from sales of land near Green Mountain National Forest wilderness areas in a hedonic price model reveals a positive relationship between proximity to protected wilderness and market values for residential properties. The applications of this result include improved consideration of the positive economic impacts of land conservation in political deliberations over public land management and new mechanisms for financing land conservation, local planning and development efforts, and maintenance of affordable housing in high-amenity/high-cost areas. / Ph. D.

Hedonic models are used to estimate implicit prices for water quality in housing markets. Recent studies aggregate sales across large spatial areas in scaled-up models leading to a concern that these models may overlook regional heterogeneity in water-quality preferences. We estimate scaled-up hedonic models comprised of multiple states and individual states and investigate how observations from subregions can differ. We find that the scaled-up model results are driven by select subregions. The results of this study call into question hedonic models using data for large geographic regions where substantial differences may arise across housing markets. / M.S. / Water quality in lakes impacts the prices people pay for lakefront properties. However, these effects can vary across different housing markets. We study whether owners of lakefront properties throughout the northeast and upper Midwest are willing to pay the same amount for water in lakes. We find that in multi-state housing markets, the effects from one state can dominate the overall results and there is likely heterogeneity in preferences across housing markets.

Recent consumer surveys and demographic analyses indicate a growing demand for pedestrian and transit designed development. This thesis presents an analysis of office rents in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area of Ontario, Canada. The effects of building quality, accessibility, and location are explored with a specific focus on the influences of walkability, public transit and private transit accessibility. The theoretical background of this research is related to the hedonic methodology, which is extensively used for explaining transaction price or rental price variations of real property. Cross sectional data of the Toronto CMA office market from the year 2010 is utilized for the hedonic price estimation. The hedonic price function is specified in the log linear form and is estimated with linear regression in SPSS. The analysis of over 2,000 asking rental rates reveals that buildings with high Walkscores and excellent accessibility to public transit and transportation infrastructure command significantly higher rents as compared to buildings with fewer nearby amenities and accessibility. The walkability findings are the first of their kind for Toronto and Canadian office markets and in line with results documented for the US office market and European office market.

The predictive power of pre-sale estimates in comparison with hedonic model of hammer price is tested within Czech painters' dataset in Czech and foreign auctions. It appears that pre-sale estimates do not account for all available information from public database which influence hammer price. The determinants of differences are examined on Czech and foreign auctions separately (OLS with instrumental variable) and in addition bought-in works are included into examination of foreign dataset by Heckit model. The same author appears to be the most viable difference in both datasets (after bought-in works inclusion in foreign data). Techniques and supports with higher hammer prices tend to have higher rate of difference between hammer and estimate prices. The influence of the oldest auction houses to higher hammer prices than estimates was confirmed. In Czech environment this influence of some auction house was not registered.

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Geomantic culture, deeply rooted in China's rich traditions, stands out as one of the most captivating and mysterious aspects of the country's heritage. In thousands of years, this enigmatic blend of metaphysics and geomancy has significantly shaped the lives of the Chinese people. Its historical success in predicting and judging risks has made it a valuable tool for investors in the field of real estate. In this case, research on the influence of risks of metaphysics and geomancy becomes necessarily important to facilitate investors to own relatively feasible tools when participating in economic activities. In this dissertation, I collect property transaction data in a district of city of Beijing in China in August 2023, and examine how various geomantic characteristics affect property prices. I identify sixteen indicators of geomantic factors, among which four are variables of community characteristics (location, shape, main entrance and road), four are building characteristics (position, orientation, floor and house number), and eight are internal characteristics of residences (house type, layout, daylighting, ventilation, color scheme, five elements, door and window). Quantification of these 16 characteristic variables can be divided as quantitative quantification and qualitative quantification, and the method to quantify indicators in accordance with the actual situation is an innovative content of indicator quantification of this paper. Employing multiple linear regressions, I find that 10 out of the 16 characteristic variables, including location, shape, main entrance, road, position, orientation, floor, house number, house type, and layout, are significantly related to property prices. I also compare the strength of the effect of each geomantic characteristic variable on property prices through standardized regression. Community location of the property has the greatest influence on prices. a building's position is at the second most important factor. House number and layout seem having the least effect on property transaction prices. My research suggests that homeowners in China care about the geomantic characteristics of their property, hence are willing to pay a higher price for more favorable geomantic characteristics. This study also offers useful guidance for real estate developers how to maximize profits through improving geomantic characteristics of their property development. / Global Finance

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Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted C. Schroeder / Hedonic pricing models have long been used to evaluate prices in high-end segments of the equine industry. However, the lower end markets, including most of the recreational and pleasure horses, have yet to be studied in the economic literature. This study evaluates characteristics affecting the price of recreational horses advertised online, and provides a framework for future market studies on various segments of the equine industry. Data were collected in both the spring and fall of 2008, in addition to a survey being conducted in the fall to collect more accurate pricing information. Three different functional forms were used and their outcomes discussed to determine which one best fit the data. Results show that the semi-log functional form appeared to best fit the data. Characteristics that consistently showed statistical significance included the horse being advertised using a photo ad, the age of the horse, and whether or not the horse was registered. Gender variables and the state which the horse was sold from showed statistical significance in most of the models; although the variables denoting breed were statistically significant as a group, no model consistently found statistical significance in any of the variables individually. Color characteristics did not demonstrate statistical significance consistently in any model. Finally, suggestions for future research are discussed. Data issues could be avoided with larger or more specific data sets; various data sources could be examined or created such as live equine auctions; regions could be examined by show or rodeo circuit instead of by state. There are political issues in the industry that need to be addressed, but a lack of available data needs to be examined and corrected before many issues can be thoroughly examined. The equine industry is often overlooked in economic literature and is a multi-billion dollar agricultural industry which deals with legislative and taxation issues just like the rest of the agricultural world and is deserving of attention.

Abstract The goal of this diploma thesis is to explore the potential of Czech paintings as an alternative investment asset. Using hedonic model, I estimate the main sale price determinants such as painting technique, size, author, auction hall and the rate of return. Observed rate of return is than compared to global rate of return of art on one hand and to common investment tools such as gold and the Stock Exchange on the other. At the same time I examine the impact of GDP growth and inflation. I find a positive effect of GDP growth on the art market. After taking these questions into consideration I found, that even though art is associated with relatively low rate of return, it is eligible investment tool. Since it is unrelated to joint stock, it can serve as a convenient instrument of portfolio diversification. At the same time, Czech paintings may also serve as a very good store of value.