[Excerpt] One real estate issue that has yet to be resolved in Real Estate Issues relates to the question of how human behavior affects returns on investment. On one side, proponents contend that real estate markets are sufficiently competitive and efficient to produce returns entirely based on the fundamentals (i.e., relative locations, growth of the local economy) while under the guidance of competent property and asset management. Others argue that human behavior in the forms of direct actions taken by managers, specific information generated by analysts, and involvement of uninformed and distressed participants will either create or destroy real estate investment opportunity. Unfortunately, the real estate academic literature offers little assistance in bringing closure to this issue.