Esta dissertação destina-se a realizar um estudo sobre o mercado imobiliário de lançamentos residenciais, mais especificamente apartamentos, no Município de São Paulo, tendo como base a utilização de preços hedônicos. Este trabalho baseia-se, principalmente, na abordagem da Teoria do Consumidor, de Lancaster, bem como em estudos relativos à precificação hedônica, de Court e Griliches, e em aplicações relativas ao mercado imobiliário, como a de Aryeetey-Attoh. Por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa com especialistas, para a definição das variáveis hedônicas explicativas, e de uma pesquisa quantitativa, para a coleta de 480 dados amostrais relativos a preços de lançamento compreendidos entre os meses de abril de 2002 e março de 2003 e atributos para cada faixa de renda distrital de São Paulo, aplicam-se as técnicas de regressão conhecidas como cross-section, onde algumas especificações semilogarítmicas são propostas, escolhendo-se, para cada faixa de renda, a que apresenta o melhor ajuste estatístico. O método proposto permite a verificação do “pacote" de atributos que é mais representativo para a valorização dos imóveis residenciais em lançamento no Município de São Paulo, possibilitando a comparação da importância relativa de cada um para cada faixa de renda distrital. Portanto, permite-se o estudo de estratégias e de gerenciamento de projetos, designados para cada tipo específico de empreendimento imobiliário, de acordo com as preferências dos consumidores e das características das localidades. / This study intends to make a research about the real estate market, more specifically new apartments, in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, using hedonic prices theory. This work is based on the approach to Consumer Theory, by Lancaster, on some hedonic price studies, by Court and Griliches, and on real estate market applications, like Aryeetey-Attoh´s. Using a qualitative research with specialists, to define the independent hedonic variables, and a quantitative research, to provide 480 sample data related to launching prices occurred between April 2002 and March 2003 and attributes for each segment of low, middle and high income in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, it is used the regression techniques known as cross-section, in which some semilogarithmic specifications are suggested, choosing, for each income, the one that offers the best statistic adjust. The proposed method allows the verification about which attributes interfere the most in the price of real estates in Sao Paulo and it compares the relative importance of each one of these attributes whenever there are changes in social classes. Thus, it allows the study of strategies and project management, designated to each kind of real estate, according to the consumers’ preferences and locality characteristics.

High productivity rates, usage of nonproductive land, renewability and recovery of waste nutrients and potential for CO2 emission reduction represent some of the advantages that selected algae species might have over competing products. Many research studies have investigated potential usage of algae for different purposes, such as cosmetics or aquaculture; however most of the research studies have focused on the feasibility of algae as a source of second generation biodiesel and feed meal. Because of its high costs of production, using algae only for the purpose of biodiesel production might not be profitable. Thus, for global scale algae commercialization it is important that it be used as a feed meal along with being marketed to the biodiesel industry. One of the major problems faced by economists when attempting to analyze the feasibility of algae is the absence of a market for algae-based fuel and meal. Given that no market exists, prices for algae cannot be observed and realistic investment analysis becomes difficult to perform in this sector. The objective of this study is to estimate a potential price of algae meal using hedonic pricing techniques. For that purpose, twenty two different feed meals commonly having the same usage as Post Extracted Algae Residue (PEAR) are decomposed into their chemical constituents in order to calculate the market value of each characteristic. Calculated prices of these characteristics are then used to estimate the price of algae meal and compare it to different feed meals. Results suggest that algae prices are strictly variable to its chemical components across different algae types. Besides, PEAR represents a sustainable source of financial value and might be considered one of the cornerstones in making algae commercialization a feasible and profitable option.

Esta dissertação destina-se a realizar um estudo sobre o mercado imobiliário de lançamentos residenciais, mais especificamente apartamentos, no Município de São Paulo, tendo como base a utilização de preços hedônicos. Este trabalho baseia-se, principalmente, na abordagem da Teoria do Consumidor, de Lancaster, bem como em estudos relativos à precificação hedônica, de Court e Griliches, e em aplicações relativas ao mercado imobiliário, como a de Aryeetey-Attoh. Por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa com especialistas, para a definição das variáveis hedônicas explicativas, e de uma pesquisa quantitativa, para a coleta de 480 dados amostrais relativos a preços de lançamento compreendidos entre os meses de abril de 2002 e março de 2003 e atributos para cada faixa de renda distrital de São Paulo, aplicam-se as técnicas de regressão conhecidas como cross-section, onde algumas especificações semilogarítmicas são propostas, escolhendo-se, para cada faixa de renda, a que apresenta o melhor ajuste estatístico. O método proposto permite a verificação do “pacote” de atributos que é mais representativo para a valorização dos imóveis residenciais em lançamento no Município de São Paulo, possibilitando a comparação da importância relativa de cada um para cada faixa de renda distrital. Portanto, permite-se o estudo de estratégias e de gerenciamento de projetos, designados para cada tipo específico de empreendimento imobiliário, de acordo com as preferências dos consumidores e das características das localidades. / This study intends to make a research about the real estate market, more specifically new apartments, in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, using hedonic prices theory. This work is based on the approach to Consumer Theory, by Lancaster, on some hedonic price studies, by Court and Griliches, and on real estate market applications, like Aryeetey-Attoh´s. Using a qualitative research with specialists, to define the independent hedonic variables, and a quantitative research, to provide 480 sample data related to launching prices occurred between April 2002 and March 2003 and attributes for each segment of low, middle and high income in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, it is used the regression techniques known as cross-section, in which some semilogarithmic specifications are suggested, choosing, for each income, the one that offers the best statistic adjust. The proposed method allows the verification about which attributes interfere the most in the price of real estates in Sao Paulo and it compares the relative importance of each one of these attributes whenever there are changes in social classes. Thus, it allows the study of strategies and project management, designated to each kind of real estate, according to the consumers’ preferences and locality characteristics.

This thesis analyzes variations in office rents in Ankara. The theoretical background of this study is related to the hedonic methodology, which is extensively applied for explaining price or rental price variations of the real property. Given this theoretical framework, hedonic regression model is utilized for the estimation of hedonic price indices by using the cross sectional data of the office market in Ankara for the year 2002. Hedonic price function is specified in the log linear functional form and is estimated with the Ordinary Least Squares technique for two models. The models include the same variables / however, Model 1 differs from Model 2 in including the location variables. The estimation results obtained from the models suggest that height and construction quality of the building act as proxies for the locational characteristics. Also, it is found from Model 1 that locational characteristics have the greatest effect on the rental prices of the office units. In order to verify this fact, Model 1 is tested against Model 2 and vice versa based on alternative tests for non-nested models. The results of non-nested tests indicate that Model 1 is preferred to Model 2. This result is important in the sense that locational characteristics are found to be significant in explaining the rental price variations. Besides location variables, the other variables related to physical attributes and lease characteristics of the office property are also evaluated from the estimation results of Model 1. From the empirical results, it is finally concluded that locational characteristics explain the spatial rent variations of the office property in Ankara to a large extent.

Since literature that evaluates the impacts that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has on surrounding property values is limited, this research contributes to this research by investigating if proximity to a BRT station has an effect, either positive or negative, on residential housing values. Further, it investigates if the nature and extent of this effect varied during different stages of implementation of the BRT system and different housing market conditions. Fluctuations in sale prices were mitigated based on a six month moving median. Four hedonic price models were then used to evaluate the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable, adjusted sales price. Results indicated that properties that were in an area between 0.4 and 0.8 mile (network distance) away from a BRT station, possessed about a $5,000 premium in sales price during the bust and initial recovery of the real estate market that occurred between 2009 and 2013. Additional results also indicated that in areas where the percentage of households without access to a vehicle increased, sales prices on residential properties also increased. This study did not employ the use of spatial models and concludes that such models should be used in future research to account for spatial autocorrelation. Further, this research suggests that additional geographic variables should be used to evaluate how residents value accessibility to other transportation systems when compared to BRT.

Nowadays, bottled water is a common product, which can be easily found everywhere in developed and underdeveloped countries, and that usually has the main goal of reducing health risk. In Taiwan, tap water if often recognized as non-potable water, so, most of the people buy bottled water or filter their tap water. In France bottled water is popular for its convenience that consumers derive from it. However, bottled water became an important topic of discussion due to its importance and its negative aspects such as plastic waste, and its high price while having a similar composition with tap water. The aim of this study is to decompose the price of bottled water in France and Taiwan while using the hedonic price function in order to estimate the implicit price and the utility maximization that consumers estimate about it. A semi-log model has been used in order to obtain results. The findings show that the two markets have different preferences about bottled water attributes, but also have similarities which led to the conclusion that the that cultural and environmental differences play a large role in the preferences of bottled water attributes.

The aim of this thesis is to compare specific parts of the value systems in Hungary and Taiwan. Although there have been many cultural comparisons between Asia and Europe these are often undertaken with a broad focus such as comparing ¡§east and west.¡¨ The decision to focus the current study on Hungary and Taiwan was made because these two countries have not been included in direct comparisons, meaning that an opportunity to contribute new knowledge is a real possibility. The two countries are different in that while Taiwan is only a third of the size of Hungary, it has nearly two and a half times the population of Hungary. This huge difference in population density contributes to differences in housing values, but the main focus of this study is value differences. This study investigates the Budapest and Kaohsiung housing market using hedonic price functions (HDF) in order to investigate whether hypothesized differences in consumer preferences are reflected in market price data. Suburbanization is a process that is occurring in Hungary, much as it is throughout the rest of Europe despite the fact that Hungary¡¦s earlier history as part of the communist east block makes the nation slightly different from Western Europe. While this process is based on doing what is necessary to find larger living quarters at an affordable price, similar consumer activity is not typical of Taiwan¡¦s housing market. One characteristic of Hungary that differentiates it from Western Europe is that it has one of the highest percentages of single-family housing in Europe. In contrast, this type of dwelling is very uncommon in Taiwan. Differences in data availability for the cities involved make precise comparisons difficult, but these difficulties can be partially redressed through the use of hedonic price estimation.

<p>This paper’s aim is to outline a general model of the indicators of box office revenue for the top performing movies in history. The experience industry is different from most other in that the consumer good consist to a large extent of an emotion arousal. It thus lacks many of the features of normal consumption goods and the consumption experience is entirely based on previous experiences of similar kind.</p><p>Demand for experiences has two important influencers: income and leisure time. An increase in any of the two will increase demand for movie tickets. Production of experiences is based on a combination of an available set of attributes that are combined into goods in a monopolistic competition setting. It is assumed that quality is a function of educated labour.</p><p>These attributes were measured using hedonic price theory. This allows pricing of every unique attribute of movies individually, based on what the willingness to pay was in previous movies. Fifteen possible variables were tested in two models and the most important were shown to be actor, length, sequel, visual effects, age of actor, MPAA-rating and category (animations and dramas). All variables carried expected signs except the actor variables.</p><p>It is concluded that production companies are not entirely meeting the quality demands of the audience. Consumers are trying to reduce risk in consumption by referring to previous consumption experiences, and consumers have, according to the results, particularly strong positive experiences of movies with the kind of features that are significant in the test.</p>

This paper’s aim is to outline a general model of the indicators of box office revenue for the top performing movies in history. The experience industry is different from most other in that the consumer good consist to a large extent of an emotion arousal. It thus lacks many of the features of normal consumption goods and the consumption experience is entirely based on previous experiences of similar kind. Demand for experiences has two important influencers: income and leisure time. An increase in any of the two will increase demand for movie tickets. Production of experiences is based on a combination of an available set of attributes that are combined into goods in a monopolistic competition setting. It is assumed that quality is a function of educated labour. These attributes were measured using hedonic price theory. This allows pricing of every unique attribute of movies individually, based on what the willingness to pay was in previous movies. Fifteen possible variables were tested in two models and the most important were shown to be actor, length, sequel, visual effects, age of actor, MPAA-rating and category (animations and dramas). All variables carried expected signs except the actor variables. It is concluded that production companies are not entirely meeting the quality demands of the audience. Consumers are trying to reduce risk in consumption by referring to previous consumption experiences, and consumers have, according to the results, particularly strong positive experiences of movies with the kind of features that are significant in the test.

Using Lancaster’s characteristics approach to consumer theory the study investigates the impact of a variety of characteristics on the rates charged for hotel rooms in Stockholm. In particular, it examines how a number of these characteristics explain variations in room rates between weekdays and weekends. Data for 105 observations (weekday sample) and 110 observations (weekend sample) were extracted from 49 hotels in and around the Swedish capital of Stockholm from the Internet-based hotel booking site hotels.com. Based on semilog regression analysis three models for the whole sample, weekday sample and weekend sample were estimated. The results show that the provision of breakfast, distance from the city center, availability of minibar in a room, provision of free cancellation option, average room size, number of guest rooms (hotel size) and hotel star rating have significant effects on both weekday and weekend room rates. By contrast, the presence of bathroom and the provision of free parking space turned out to be insignificant in both models; whereas the provision of a 24-hour room service and association with hotel chain appear to be significant only in the weekday model. The impact of the star variable is also found to be more pronounced during the weekdays than weekends. These results are expected to shed light on which hotel characteristics consumers have to pay extra, and enhance hotel managers’ strategic pricing. The study also highlights the critical role of a proper definition and measurement of the hotel star rating in hedonic pricing.Many hedonic studies have regressed the number of stars, which are ordinal measures of quality that indicate the relative ranking of hotels, in their cardinal sense. As a result, they have failed to measure the impact of each rating independently. To solve this recurrent problem, the study attempts to provide another method of quantifying the star variable whereby one can accurately measure the star rating and capture the impact of each rating independently by creating “one less dummy variable than there are alternatives”. It is hoped that this will inspire further research and analysis.