Optimal Height Of Land Development – An Economic Perspective
Abstract Sky-scrapers are rising in the panorama of big modern cities more and more often, becoming a symbol of dynamic growth and prestige. High-rise development appears to be an answer to the expanding demand for new residential and commercial space as urban land prices continue to go up and the availability of land decreases. This article aims to identify factors affecting the choice of optimal building height in the context of economic effectiveness. It also presents factors that determine the implementation of high-rise development projects. Given the complexity of this subject matter, emphasis is placed on its economic dimension.
Determining Optimal Building Height
The paper examines how building height is determined in the absence of building height regulatory restrictions. A model is developed for determining optimal height using simple neo-classical economic analysis; this is then tested using empirical data from Hong Kong. The results show that the observed building heights are consistent with the optimal height predicted by the model. In addition, it was also found that the point of optimality varied positively with the quality of the external environment. An important practical implication is that town planners and policy-makers can make use of the model as a benchmarking tool to assess and quantify the effect of imposing or relaxing height restrictions.
Agriculture and Intellectual Property Rights: Economic, Institutional and Implementation Issues in Biotechnology
1: Introduction, V Santaniello et al. 2: Patent and Other Private Legal Rights for Biotechnology Inventions (Intellectual Property Rights - IPR), D D Evenson, P.L.L.C., Washington, USA 3: Intellectual Property Rights of Plant Varieties and of Biotechnology in the European Union, V Santaniello 4: Intellectual Property Rights under the Convention on Biological Diversity, W Lesser, Cornell University, USA 5: An Economic Approach to Identifying An `Effective Sui Generis System' for Plant Variety Protection Under TRIPS, W Lesser 6: Recent Intellectual Property Rights Controversies and Issues at the CGIAR, S H Bragdon, IPGRI, Rome, Italy 7: Economics of Intellectual Property Rights for Agricultural Technology, R E Evenson 8: The Market Value of Farmers' Rights, R Mendelsohn, Yale University, USA 9: International Crop Breeding in a World of Proprietary Technology, B D Wright, University of California, USA 10: Knowledge Management and the Economics of Agricultural Biotechnology, D Zilberman and C Yarkin, University of California, USA and A Heiman, Hebrew University, Israel 11: Comparing Allocation of Resources in Public and Private Research, S Lemarie, Universite Pierre-Mendes, Grenoble, France 12: Biotechnology Inventions: What Can We Learn From Patents?, D K N Johnson, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA and V Santaniello 13: Biotechnology Inventions: Patent Data Evidence, A Zohrabyan, Yale University, USA and R E Evenson 14: Property Rights and Regulations for Transgenic Crops in North America, G Carlson and M Marra, North Carolina State University, USA 15: Intellectual Property Rights, Canola and Public Research in Canada, P W B Phillips, University of Saskatchewan, Canada