Property Condition Disclosure Law: Why Did States Mandate 'Seller Tell All'?

Thirty-six US states have already enacted some form of seller's property condition disclosure law. At a time when there is a movement in this direction nationally, this paper attempts to ascertain the factors that lead states to adopt disclosure law. Motivation for the study stems from the fact that not all states have yet adopted the law, and states that have enacted the law have done so in different years. The analytical structure employs hazard models, using a unique set of economic and institutional attributes for a panel of 50 US States spanning 21 years, from 1984 to 2004. The proportional hazard analysis of law adoption reveals that greater number of disciplinary actions tends to favor passage of the law. Greater broker supervision, implying generally higher awareness among real estate agents, seems to have a negative impact on the likelihood of a state adopting a property condition disclosure law.

Property Condition Disclosure Law: Does 'Seller Tell All' Matter in Property Values?

At the time when at least two-thirds of the US states have already mandated some form of seller's property condition disclosure statement and there is a movement in this direction nationally, this paper examines the impact of seller's property condition disclosure law on the residential real estate values, the information asymmetry in housing transactions and shift of risk from buyers and brokers to the sellers, and attempts to ascertain the factors that lead to adoption of the disclosur law. The analytical structure employs parametric panel data models, semi-parametric propensity score matching models, and an event study framework using a unique set of economic and institutional attributes for a quarterly panel of 291 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and 50 US States spanning 21 years from 1984 to 2004. Exploiting the MSA level variation in house prices, the study finds that the average seller may be able to fetch a higher price (about three to four percent) for the house if she furnishes a state-mandated seller's property condition disclosure statement to the buyer.

What Sensory Signals are About

Kathleen Akins argues that "the traditional view" of sensory systems assumes too quickly that their function is detecting features of the outside environment. Instead, some systems are "narcissistic"--their signals tell their own states--and others may send signals that are not about anything at all. But Akins overlooks that "traditionalists" may argue, with Millikan, that the function of sensory systems may be steering motor routines. Aboutness comes in as how the systems have steered in ways evolution liked--by gearing steering to external features. Color vision and olfaction, for example, are thus, about external features.

Volume 11, Number 2: April/May 2005

Page 2 – The Vice Provost cites 2004/2005 as a year of significant accomplishments for the Libraries. • The Dodd Research Center and the Human Rights Institute plan a conference on economic human rights for October. Page 3 - Researcher Bill V. Mullen talks about the work of avant garde musician, composer, and author Fred Ho, whose archive is in Archives & Special Collections. Page 4 - Students tell us why they come to the library. • The Dodd Research Center commissions two students to create a logo for its 10th anniversary celebration. • Fragile pamphlets are given new life in the Conservation Lab. Page 5 - The library sponsors a national symposium to explore new technology. • Our newest digital project can lead you to everything you ever wanted to know about Connecticut. • A new Pharmacy Library will open its doors in June. Page 6 - Staff News: service anniversaries and new faces. Page 7 - The Class of 1955 is raising $50,000 for an undergraduate instruction classroom in the library.

Volume 10, Number 3: September/October 2004

Page 2 - Users tell us what they think about library service, and library director Brinley Franklin explains why he thinks the library is a good investment. Page 3 - Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page, once the beneficiary of the library’s music collections, is now a patron of the Music & Dramatic Arts Library. Page 4 - Donors to the Libraries during FY 2004 Page 5 - Remembering Theora Whetten, long-time Friend of the Libraries; welcoming new Friends, the Class of ‘55. Page 6 - Beach Society members include the Libraries in their estate plans. Stamford honors Estelle Feinstein. Page 7 - Jack & Virginia Stephens donate a collection of Connecticut town histories.

Cognitive Comparative Advantage and the Organization of Work: Lessons from Herbert Simon's Vision of the Future

In a marvelous but somewhat neglected paper, 'The Corporation: Will It Be Managed by Machines?' Herbert Simon articulated from the perspective of 1960 his vision of what we now call the New Economy the machine-aided system of production and management of the late twentieth century. Simon's analysis sprang from what I term the principle of cognitive comparative advantage: one has to understand the quite different cognitive structures of humans and machines (including computers) in order to explain and predict the tasks to which each will be most suited. Perhaps unlike Simon's better-known predictions about progress in artificial intelligence research, the predictions of this 1960 article hold up remarkably well and continue to offer important insights. In what follows I attempt to tell a coherent story about the evolution of machines and the division of labor between humans and machines. Although inspired by Simon's 1960 paper, I weave many other strands into the tapestry, from classical discussions of the division of labor to present-day evolutionary psychology. The basic conclusion is that, with growth in the extent of the market, we should see humans 'crowded into' tasks that call for the kinds of cognition for which humans have been equipped by biological evolution. These human cognitive abilities range from the exercise of judgment in situations of ambiguity and surprise to more mundane abilities in spatio-temporal perception and locomotion. Conversely, we should see machines 'crowded into' tasks with a well-defined structure. This conclusion is not based (merely) on a claim that machines, including computers, are specialized idiots-savants today because of the limits (whether temporary or permanent) of artificial intelligence; rather, it rests on a claim that, for what are broadly 'economic' reasons, it will continue to make economic sense to create machines that are idiots-savants.

Lying, Integrity, and Cooperation

While talk is cheap to some, it is expensive to others for whom moral considerations come into play. We employ a simple two-stage modified prisoner's dilemma game where integrity is endowed on a continuum to analyze when agents will lie in random economic interactions. If there is sufficient integrity in the population, all agents make a promise in the first stage to cooperate in the second. Some agents always lie, some always tell the truth, and some behave conditionally. Enhanced cooperation is a byproduct of integrity.

Volume 10, Number 4: November/December 2004

Page 2 – A is for Access. The librarian’s role is changing from manager of materials to manager of access to materials. Where Will Your Research Be Tomorrow? Institutional repositories hope to preserve research created on-campus. Page 3 - An Ideal Collaboration. Librarians provide research support for UConn/Stamford Author Nechama Tec Page 4 - In Brief. Naxos is a new online music collection. A new method for binding paperback books saves the cover information. Archives & Special Collections add new collections. Page 5 - In Brief. ARTstor is a major new collection of online art images. Human Rights Internet Archives are donated to the Dodd Center. The annual RBS Greenwich Capital Economic Seminar focuses on the next four years. A delegation from China visits Babbidge Library. Users tell us what they think. Page 6 - Staff News

Making A Story Move: The Art of Film Editing

An in-depth treatise on the process of film editing, featuring 16 original interviews from renowned editors. These editors share insight and anecdotes about the daily joys and difficulties of their careers (and the professional principles they subscribe to), as well as the creative, interpersonal, and technical challenges they constantly face. Discussion of the “MTV influence” behind modern film editing is offered, and this influence is explored in filmmaking history. Advice and inspiration is also shared for the benefit of future film editors; Hollywood editors tell their own stories about how they thrived in a notoriously-difficult field, and what it would take for an aspiring editor to do the same.