Does work from home reshape the urban rental structure? Early evidence from a rental gradient analysis in Auckland

Purpose: This study aims to identify the pandemic's impact on house rents by applying a rental gradient analysis to compare the pre-and post-COVID-19 periods in Auckland. The micro-level household census data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure of Statistics New Zealand is also applied to scrutinise this WFH trend as a robustness check. Design/methodology/approach: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, work-from-home (WFH) and e-commerce have become much more common in many cities. Many news reports have contended that households are leaving city centres and moving into bigger and better houses in the suburbs or rural areas. This emerging trend has been redefining the traditional theory of residential location choices. Proximity to central business district (CBD) is no longer the most critical consideration in choosing one's residence. WFH and e-commerce flatten the traditional bid rent curve from the city centre. Findings: The authors examined micro-level housing rental listings in 242 suburbs of the Auckland Region from January 2013 to December 2021 (108 months) and found that the hedonic price gradient models suggest that there has been a trend of rental gradient flattening and that its extent was almost doubled in 2021. Rents are also found to be increasing more in lower-density suburbs. Research limitations/implications: The results imply that the pandemic has accelerated the trend of WFH and e-commerce. The authors further discuss whether the trend will be a transient phenomenon or a long-term shift. Practical implications: Suppose an organisation is concerned about productivity and performance issues due to a companywide ability to WFH. In that case, some standard key performance indicators for management and employees could be implemented. Forward-thinking cities need to focus on attracting skilful workers by making WFH a possible solution, not by insisting on the primacy of antiquated nine-to-five office cultures. Social implications: WFH has traditionally encountered resistance, but more and more companies are adopting WFH policies in this post-COVID era. The early rental gradient and the micro-level household data analysis all confirm that the WFH trend is emerging and will likely be a long-term shift. Instead of resisting the change, organisations should improve their remote work policies and capabilities for this WFH trend. Originality/value: So far, empirical studies of post-COVID urban restructuring have been limited. This study aims to empirically test such an urban metamorphosis by identifying the spatial and temporal impacts of COVID on house rental gradients in the Auckland Region, New Zealand. The authors apply rental gradient analysis to test this urban restructuring hypothesis because the method considers the spatial-temporal differences, i.e. a difference-in-differences between pre-and post-pandemic period against the distance measured from the city centre. The method can control for the spatial difference and the endogeneity involved. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Which online learning resources do undergraduate economics students’ value and does their use improve academic attainment? A comparison and revealed preferences from before and during the Covid pandemic

The rapid shift to online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic led to widespread migration to online / blended delivery across UK Higher Education. This has prompted renewed interest in identifying the features of virtual learning environments (VLEs) which students value and are most helpful in academic development and attainment. Using the experience of delivery on an undergraduate module both before and after the introduction of an online delivery model, we use a revealed preference framework to analyse the influence of cognitive load on the value students attach to VLE features in combination with other learning resources. We also use regression analysis to examine which learning resources are crucial to attainment. Our findings suggests that students avoid cognitive overload by being selective in their use of learning resources. They showed a greater preference for both familiar and passive learning resources like lectures, lecture recordings and seminars in both learning environments. Students exhibited a lower preference for active VLE features - multiple-choice quizzes, open-ended questions and discussion forums. Nonetheless, use of open-ended questions along with lecture recordings and lecture slides had a significantly positive impact on academic attainment in the online learning environment. This supports instrumentalism in the use of these resources. Students were more selective in developing deeper understanding using online open-ended questions. Our results imply that module designers need to accept that such resources will be used more selectively. However, they should still be provided to encourage active, deeper learning.

Credit cards, the demand for money, and monetary aggregation

We use nonparametric and parametric demand analysis to empirically estimate a credit card-augmented monetary asset demand system, based on the Minflex Laurent flexible functional form, and a sample period that includes the 2007-2009 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. We also use multivariate copulae in an attempt to capture various patterns of dependence structures. In doing so, we relax the joint normality assumption of the errors of the demand system and estimate the model without having to delete one equation as is usually the practice. We show that the Minflex Laurent copula-based demand system produces a higher income elasticity for credit card transaction services and higher Morishima elasticities between credit card transaction services and monetary assets compared to the traditional estimation of the Minflex Laurent demand system. We also show that credit cards are substitutes for monetary assets and that there is lower tail dependence between the demand for credit card transaction services and transaction balances.