Seminar Vol. 171
Title: On the Impact of Infrastructure Improvement on Real Estate Values: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India
Speaker: Chinmoy Ghosh, University of Connecticut
Time: July 31st, 2019 13:30–15:00
Venue: Conference Room 106B, Zhonghui Building (IESR, JNU College of Economics)
About the speaker:
Professor Chinmoy Ghosh has been a faculty member at the department of Finance at the University of Connecticut since 1986, the year he graduated from Pennsylvania University with a Ph.D. in Finance with minors in Economics and Quantitative Analysis. He has taught at the undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, Part-time Professional MBA, and Ph.D. levels. He has won the MBA best Teacher of the Year award in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003. In 2003, he won the EMBA best teacher of the year award. He won the SBA Outstanding Service Award in 2002.
His research primarily focuses on the efficiency of the capital market, particularly with respect to the impact of managerial decisions on stock prices. He has published in major academic finance journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Financial Services Research, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Economics and Finance, Journal of Urban Economics, and Journal of Property Finance.
Abstract:
Infrastructural improvements have historically impacted real estate prices positively. While this is true in developed countries, there is limited data and evidence from emerging markets where there is less confidence in government bureaucracy to implement them properly and on time. We utilize a quasi-natural experiment to evaluate the impact of an Inner City road redesign and improvement project on property prices in the fifth largest Indian city of Bengaluru. We use a hedonic price approach on matched control and treatment samples to account for various attributes that affect property values. We find that, unlike in developed countries, real estate sale prices and rental values are slow to adjust to the announcement of an infrastructure improvement project reflecting potential inefficiencies and delays in their execution. Our findings carry important policy implications for structuring value capture strategies in emerging markets.
