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Background: Work-family enrichment refers to the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in another role, and the bidirectionality indicates that benefits derived from work can be applied to family and vice versa. Parent nurses, that is, female nurses who are raising preschool children, play a major role at work and in the family. Thus, work-family enrichment is significant for them. The Work-Family Enrichment Scale cannot be generalized to parent nurses. This study was aimed at developing and psychometrically validating a draft Work-Family Enrichment Scale for Parent Nurses. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1,090 parent nurses who were randomly sampled from hospitals with more than 200 beds in Japan. The survey evaluated (1) a draft Work-Family Enrichment Scale for Parent Nurses, (2) the Japanese version of the Work-Family Enrichment Scale, and (3) the Positive Spillover Scale. The scales were psychometrically evaluated for internal consistency, construct validity, and criterion-related validity. Results: Data from 503 participants (age, mean ± standard deviation [range] 35.5 ± 4.96 [23–47] years) were analyzed. Results of exploratory factor analysis, the work to family enrichment direction yielded five factors for 23 items: "emotional fulfillment," "efficiency," "ability to lead," "displaying industriousness," and "self-growth." Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.862 to 0.914. In the family-to-work enrichment direction, there were five factors for 28 items: "help-seeking," "receptiveness," "expansion of one's horizon," "efficiency," and "emotional fulfillment." Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.790 to 0.907. Additionally, the correlation coefficients reporting criterion-related validity were 0.685 and 0.619 with regard to the Japanese version of the Work-Family Enrichment Scale and 0.596 and 0.534 with the Positive Spillover Scale for the Work-to-Family Enrichment Scale and the Family-to-Work Enrichment Scale for Parent Nurses, respectively. Conclusions: The Work-Family Enrichment Scale for Parent Nurses has adequate reliability and validity and can be used as an effective measure to assess the positive aspects of work and family roles among female parent nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical technology is undergoing rapid transformations, and the classifications of medical devices have also expanded greatly; therefore, it is necessary to develop appropriate reimbursement policies and pricing mechanisms in a timely manner. This paper aims to introduce the reimbursement coverage and pricing rules for medical devices in Taiwan. In addition, this paper identifies and evaluates available health technology assessments (HTA) and literature on published websites concerning medical device decision-making processes and pricing systems in South Korea and Japan, which are near Taiwan and have similar reimbursement coverage processes. Reimbursement policy and pricing mechanisms are constantly being revised in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. Recently, all three countries attempted to establish new reimbursement coverage decision-making and pricing rules, adopting a differentiated approach based on the level of evidence required for the appropriated reimbursement in terms of a feasible evaluation mechanism for providing patients with more effective medical devices. This article is expected to contribute to providing references to new reimbursement coverage decision-making and pricing rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When large earthquakes occur over wide areas, in addition to damage to medical facilities, the disaster response capabilities of local governments are severely compromised. There is a very high possibility that the supply–demand balance of medicines will collapse within the disaster area, and that appropriate supplies of medicines will not be provided to disaster victims. Therefore, it is important to estimate in advance the quantity of pharmaceuticals that may be needed during disasters. In this study, the purpose is to clarify the quantity and quality of pharmaceuticals used by chronically ill patients by using Japanese National Health Insurance data regarding the issues mentioned above. The methodology used was to extract the status of pharmaceutical prescriptions based on receipt information from National Health Insurance data for Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, a small regional city in Japan, as the analysis target area. Through the analysis in this study, the quantity and quality of medicines supplied to chronically ill patients in Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, were clarified on a town-by-town basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benhabib et al. [(2001) Journal of Economic Theory 96, 40–69] argue that there exists a deflation steady state when the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate is considered in a Taylor-type monetary policy rule. This paper estimates a medium-scale DSGE model with a deflation steady state for the Japanese economy during the period from 1999 to 2013, when the Bank of Japan conducted a zero interest rate policy and the inflation rate was almost always negative. Although the model exhibits equilibrium indeterminacy around the deflation steady state, a set of specific equilibria is selected by Bayesian methods. According to the estimated model, positive shocks to households' preferences and wage markup, and a negative shock to monetary policy do not necessarily have an inflationary effect, in contrast to a standard model with a targeted-inflation steady state. An economy in the deflation equilibrium could experience unexpected volatility because of sunspot fluctuations, but it turns out that sunspot shocks have a limited effect on Japan's output fluctuations and rather contribute to stabilizing the economy after the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on multiple conferences conducted by the Japan Academy for Consumption Economy, Japan, including the 2017 JACE conference on the topic 'Modern Consumption Economy and Co-operation in Distribution' at Osaka University of Commerce, the 2018 JACE conference on the topic 'Consumption Economy and Consumer Issues in Modern' at Nihon University, and 2021 JACE conference on the topic 'Thinking about Consumption Economics under the Corona-Shock' at Chubu University.

Purpose: This paper aims to inform the reader of the nature of Japanese organize crime ("the Yakuza") and the extent to which it has penetrated and is a powerful force in nearly all facets of Japanese society – with particular focus on the "legitimate" business and financial worlds. The paper also describes in detail the actual harmful effects of Yakuza influence and also provides a cautionary note for foreign business ventures in Japan. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers an in-depth narrative description based on the author's over 20 years' experience researching the topic along with practical experience gained while working in the business risk mitigation field in Japan and assisting private entities in avoiding underworld entanglements. Findings: The paper demonstrates how the Yakuza remains a potent force with widespread influence in Japan, despite the government's enactment of specific regulations designed to pressure underworld organizations. Research limitations/implications: The paper offers insights into an aspect of Japanese society that receives limited examination, and the information contained in the article is potentially useful to other scholars and the foreign business community as well. The Yakuza are a broad topic, and the author's perspectives are necessarily focused on cases of Yakuza involvement in the legitimate economy and political world rather than the entire panoply of underworld activity. Practical implications: The insights and descriptions of underworld involvement in "legitimate" parts of Japanese society might encourage Japanese authorities to assess why the Yakuza remain entrenched and take appropriate counter measures. Social implications: The paper is potentially of use to foreign business and governmental organizations in better understanding and countering risks and threats posed by the Japanese underworld, both in Japan and beyond its borders. Originality/value: This topic is infrequently covered in any depth in English language sources and seldom if ever by someone with over two decades of practical experience identifying and helping private entities navigate around Yakuza dangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption that 'local search' constrains the direction of corporate R&D is central in evolutionary perspectives on technological change and competition. In this paper, we propose a network-analytic approach for identifying the evolution of firms' technological positions. The approach (1) permits graphical and quantitative assessments of the extent to which firms' search behavior is locally bounded, and (2) enables firms to be positioned and grouped according to the similarities in their innovative capabilities. The utility of the proposed framework is demonstrated by an analysis of strategic partnering and the evolution of the technological positions of the 10 largest Japanese semiconductor producers from 1982 to 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to highlight the value of economics, social relations and culture in building a healthy community by interpreting qualitative data. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative descriptive approach was used between June 2016 and May 2017 and interviews were analysed inductively. Twenty residents of a shopping street in Tohoku, a rural town in north-eastern Japan, participated in this survey. This study focused on the residents' value of economics, social relations and culture in building a healthy community. Findings: People acquired economic benefits in the hope of gaining irreplaceable relationships with customers and residents, including memorable stories and heart-to-heart satisfaction. The narratives reflected not only the ideal aspects of social relations but also realistic and complex aspects, such as feelings of being uncomfortable with strangers, whether they were long-term residents or newcomers. The daily life of the town is a story, which is built based on customs fostered and strengthened through capital bonds. Originality/value: To build a healthy community, people residing on shopping streets have unique care systems in which multiple glass shop windows make it easier to tell narrative stories, communicate or request assistance, which is very different from knocking on doors in suburban neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Import liberalization is one of the most actively debated issues in trade policy. This paper examines how trade policy preferences are related to individual characteristics based on a survey in Japan. Among 10,000 surveyed individuals, people working in non-agricultural sectors, those working in managerial occupations, or those above retirement age tend to favor freer imports. This paper also finds that people who are influenced by the status quo bias are likely to oppose import liberalization even after controlling for each individual's various characteristics, suggesting that neither income compensation nor insurance schemes are sufficient for expanding support for free trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is known to have an exceptionally low level of inward foreign direct investment (FDI). The promotion of inward FDI is one of the policy goals of Abenomics structural reforms. This present paper studies the accumulation of Japan's inward FDI stock during the first 3 years of Abenomics (2012-2015), and finds no evidence that Japan's inward FDI stock increased more than the trend before Abenomics started would have predicted. A comparison of the main policies for promoting inward FDI that have been implemented to the real and perceived impediments to inward FDI reveals that it may be advisable to shift the emphasis of the policy to address more regulatory and administrative issues and to reduce the cost of doing business in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the price changes in global bluefin tuna (BFT) markets in response to shifts in regional and global landings to evaluate the conservation and economic incentives from changes in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) managed by all three Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. A fisherman’s income, and thus the financial incentive to accept management measures controlling catch levels, depends in part on how responsive price is to overall catch. Individual fisherman, with their own best interest in mind, used to wish to increase their individual landings and create an incentive to ask to increase the TAC for the industry, without realizing the possible revenue loss due to the resulting falling prices. To protect the value of all stakeholders’ property rights, a consensus to avoid abruptly raising the TAC, without first considering the potential loss due to market response, is needed. Alternatively, if revenue increases with lower TAC, a positive economic incentive for conservation is created if price increasing proportionately more than the lower supply, with harvest profits boosted by lower costs of production. To capture the complexity of substituting across various sources of supply and product form, a general synthetic inverse demand system is estimated to identify the impact of overall landings on BFT prices. This system estimates price flexibilities of both fresh and frozen longline-caught sashimi-grade tunas (Pacific, Atlantic and southern bluefins, and bigeye) at the Tokyo Center Market in Japan, including the Tsukiji Market, the world’s largest fish auction market that served as the single global price leader for BFT. The resulting estimation shows that own-quantity price flexibilities of every type of fresh and frozen BFTs are less than unity and inflexible in their own consumption. This creates poor individual producer incentives for fishermen to reduce wild or farmed BFT supply, as there is a chance to increase their own revenue, under the unlikely condition that the total supply is fixed. However, by observing the rapid increases in the TAC of Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (EABFT) in the coming years, suppliers may not be better off as price will drop proportionally faster and total revenue if the estimated scale flexibility is greater than one. Based on the estimated scale flexibility of frozen BFT, which is slightly less than unity, the frozen subsector of EABFT suppliers is the only winner under the supply increases. Suppliers of frozen BFT in other regions, fresh BFT (in the Atlantic and elsewhere), and southern BFT and bigeye tuna will all be harmed through lower revenue by the supply increases. Additionally, while total revenue might stay the same for frozen BFT suppliers, fishermen will potentially receive lower profits due to higher operating costs associated with increased landings when the supply of EABFT increases. Given the number of sectors that ultimately lose financially in the short term and given the ecological (and production) risks accompanying an abrupt increase in fishing pressure in the long term, the global economic losses resulting from an increase in the allowable catch of Atlantic bluefin tuna will outweigh any potential increases to revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis remains undertreated in Japan, and bone fractures are the most frequent complications imposing heavy burden on individuals and the community. This paper investigates the clinical and economic burden of fractures among osteoporosis patients in Japan. The Japan National Health and Wellness Survey 2012-2014 database was used for analysis. Respondents aged ≥ 50 years and indicated a physician diagnosis of osteoporosis (N = 1107) were categorized into three subgroups: no prior fracture (N = 693), single fracture (N = 242), and multiple (≥ 2) fractures (N = 172). Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), work productivity and activity impairment, healthcare resource utilization and associated direct and indirect costs were compared across three fracture subgroups adjusting for respondents' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics using generalized linear regression models. The estimated fracture prevalence among respondents with osteoporosis who were ≥ 50 years was 37.4%, of whom 41.5% had multiple fractures. Relative to osteoporosis respondents with no fracture and with single fracture, those with multiple fractures reported significant higher disability in HRQoL, more healthcare resource utilization, and were associated with higher direct costs. Improved treatment of fractures among osteoporosis patients is necessary and may help reduce the clinical and economic burden in this osteoporosis population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the progressive increases in the consumption of sport- related services, the concomitant growth in the sports industry following the growth of the Japanese economy. and the ensuing changes in the lifestyles of Japanese people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development of a large-scale (e.g. several thousand km2) high-resolution (e.g. 250 m) distributed rainfall-runoff/flood inundation simulation ( DRR/ FI) model and an economic loss estimation model considering the confidence interval within what is called the Kyoto, Kobe University- SJNK ( KKU-SJNK) model. The DRR/ FI model can simulate rainfall-runoff, dike-breaks, and inland flood inundation processes simultaneously in a seamless/integrated manner with practical accuracy. The river network for the modelling includes most of the catchment main and tributary rivers; thus, DRR/ FI can simulate all of the discharge/water levels of the rivers in the catchment. Data processing was carried out with ArcGIS, which handles large data sets as one sees them with a graphical interface. The coordinate system of the model is appropriately set up; thus, the model can interact with other models such as weather, climate, evacuation, vulnerability and financial models. This also makes it possible to use extensive GIS data from all over the world. Moreover a vulnerability model, what we call the KKU- SJNK model, was developed. The KKU- SJNK model yields the damage ratios and thus economic loss of buildings due to flooding considering the confidence interval. The models are applied to the Yodogawa River catchment (8240 km2), the 7th largest river catchment in Japan, which crosses six prefectures. Though the catchment size is not necessarily very large compared with continental rivers, there is seldom seen such a detailed high-resolution large-scale runoff-inundation model in Japan. To validate the model, data from 1997 and 2009 floods in the Yodogawa River catchment was used. The results of the model exhibited the potential effectiveness of the DRR/ FI + KKU- SJNK model for risk management toward property loss insurance, though it also identified some difficulties. The paper presents these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents views of expert Hayato Kato on the paper published on Competition Effects & Industrial Productivity: Lessons from Japanese Industry and discusses the relationship between competition and productivity growth, technological innovations and price-cost margin. He also argues for the interpretation of results needs more careful examination and discusses industry characteristics and exposure to international trades.

This paper uses two nationally representative sets of medical claims data from medical assistance and universal public health insurance systems to examine how medical assistance system assignment affects short-term inpatient health care provision. In Japan, the medical assistance system, which is part of a public assistance system, provides medical care services for its beneficiaries without imposing any financial burdens, such as copayments or advance premium payments. These circumstances can lead to inpatient costs, as physicians may provide more treatments because there is a financial incentive. Because the assignment of public assistance in Japan is not random but is subject to means testing by the local government, I employ the instrumental variable model to control the potential correlation. I find that medical expenditure is significantly higher for medical assistance patients than for universal public health insurance patients, with an arc elasticity of approximately 0.20. This elasticity is slightly greater than that found for inpatient care in the randomized RAND Health Insurance Experiment and recent empirical studies on low-income populations. In addition, the elasticities for patients who receive medication, treatment and surgery are greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides novel evidence on the effect of deregulating overtime hours restrictions on women by using the 1985 Amendments to the Labour Standards Act (LSA) in Japan as a natural experiment. The original LSA of 1947 prohibited women from working overtime exceeding two hours a day; six hours a week; and 150 hours a year. The 1985 Amendments exempted a variety of occupations and industries from such an overtime restriction on women. Applying a difference‐in‐difference model to census data, we find causal evidence pointing to the positive effect of this particular piece of labour market deregulation on the proportion of female employment. We then carry out a series of sensitivity analyses to ensure the robustness of our finding. Especially, we conduct a falsification test and an event study to show that our causal inference is not threatened by the differential pretreatment trends. Finally, we use quantile regressions and find that for jobs with more rapidly growing proportion of female employment, the effect of the exemption from the overtime work restriction on women is larger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between outpatient orthopedic surgery costs and Japan's healthcare facilities using a large-scale Japanese medical claims database. Design/methodology/approach The authors obtained reimbursement claims data for 8,588 patients who underwent orthopedic surgery between April 1 and September 30, 2014 at 3,347 Japanese healthcare facilities. Regression analysis, using ordinary least squares, examined the association between outpatient orthopedic surgery costs and healthcare facility characteristics. By using surgical fees as proxy for the surgical costs, the authors defined three dependent variables: surgical cost for each outpatient orthopedic surgery; pre- and post-operative cost one month before and after a surgical operation; and total cost for each patient. The authors also defined five independent variables, which capture healthcare facility characteristics and patient-specific factors: bed count; whether healthcare facilities are reimbursed in a diagnosis procedure combination system; patient's age; sex; and anatomical surgical sites. Findings The authors analyzed 6,456 outpatient orthopedic surgical cases performed at 3,085 healthcare facilities. There were significant differences in the surgical costs for outpatient orthopedic surgery among different healthcare facilities by total beds ( p=0.000). Multivariate regression analysis shows that surgical costs for outpatient orthopedic surgery are positively and significantly associated with healthcare facilities classified by total beds after adjusting for patient-specific characteristics ( p<0.05). Originality/value This is the first research to examine the association between costs for outpatient orthopedic surgery and healthcare facility characteristics in Japan. This study via the multivariate regression method showed that outpatient orthopedic surgery is likely to cost higher as healthcare facility size increased. The average incremental costs for each outpatient orthopedic surgery per 100 beds were calculated at $48.5 for surgery, $40.7 for pre- and post-operative care, and $89.2 total cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper estimates the effect of the Abe Cabinet's Womanomics policies that aimed to increase female labor supply and keep women on a career path. The policies are surveyed, and the effects are estimated using microdata from the Labor Force Survey combined with data at the prefectural level on day care provision. A difference-in-difference (DD) method is applied to uncover the impacts of the Abe Cabinet's policies. The rapid increase in the provision of infant care, especially in the urban area, has contributed to a strong increase in the labor participation of mothers with young children. In addition, DD method estimates show a strong increase in mothers with infants staying in permanent-contract regular employment. A significant shortening of work hours of workers, especially of parents with infants, is observed, which enabled working mothers to maintain their employment status. A change in the gender wage gap in the Japanese labor market is observed, but much progress is still required to close the large wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the experience of two severe disasters (the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake disaster of 1995 and the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster of 2011), I wish to consider 'subsistence' as human life, existence equaling the basic activities of life, an essential mutual act-like existence economy. In this paper, I pursue a positive development of 'disaster-time economics' as a research object under the larger framework of the formation of a 'moral economy,' as part of a critical process. In this paper, in order that a stricken area and society may aim at the realization of a new methodology about 'creative revival' for newly developing independent research involving the state of the revival fund of a wide sense is carried out. Nevertheless, there is an overall understanding of who, in what areas, and using what methodology, has conducted research in the restoration and revival process, as well as the weak points that tend to hinder the process. There is no research on the rationality and function of public finance expenditures or national sources expenditures. Therefore, in this paper, the term 'disaster-time economy' is newly prepared. From this concept, many activities of the project, service, support, self-efforts etc. of a social and private domain are grasped from a public sphere in connection with the process of maintenance/restoration under the disaster. The feature and subject point of the process are clarified. The market economy order that is going to be produced in this process does the basic work and determines the economic order for another self-subsistence over life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on multiple conferences conducted by the Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics (JAFEE), including the 2022 Autumn Conference, on September 17, 2022, and the Annual Conference 2023, from March 18-19, 2023, at the Rikkyo University, Ikebukuro Campus, Japan. It mentions that both conferences will focus on 'Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Economy and Society'.

For Japan in 2021, COVID-19-related disruption was again the dominant storyline. Its impact transcended societal consequences to affect Japan’s economy, politics, and foreign affairs. It frustrated Japan’s economic recovery and, for the second time in as many years, contributed to a prime minister’s premature resignation. Yet the year also witnessed major positive developments, including the '2020” Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics; an (eventually) successful vaccine rollout; public health outcomes vastly better than those of any other G7 member; an expected return to economic growth; and a smooth national election. On October 31, new prime minister Kishida Fumio led the ruling LDP–Komeito coalition into Japan's first general election since 2017. Despite losing a few seats, it retained a comfortable lower-house majority, ensuring that a subplot for Japan in 2021 was-again-relative continuity in national politics and foreign affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake on plant input, output, total factor productivity (TFP) and exit using Japanese plant-level manufacturing data. We employ the difference-in-differences (DID) estimation method to identify the effects of the quake and find that the quake had an impact on manufacturing. The results suggest that production was influenced by the quake, particularly in the first year after the quake. Furthermore, the quake did not influence manufacturing industries uniformly. The effects are different based on specifications, variables, and industries. However, the quake had little impact on the exit of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the post-'Lehman Brothers shock' period of the Japanese foreign direct investment in Australia, and provides an analysis of the types of investment. The analysis begins with the theoretical frameworks that define multinational enterprise (MNE) activity, and foreign direct investment. The way in which 'institutional economics' theory is utilised within the 'eclectic paradigm' is also analysed herein. The 'Lehman Brothers shock', the ensuing market decline, and the subsequent investor indecisiveness have had effects on foreign direct investment in Asia, the EU, and North America (Devos & Giovanoli, 2011). While this situation continued, one particular economic bilateralism, that of Japan and Australia, has remained largely unaffected. The bilateral trade volumes and structure between the two remain unaltered in the aftermath of the 'shock'. This paper details the Japanese foreign direct investment patterns in Australia that were present before the 'Lehman Brothers shock', and continued afterwards (i.e. several-stage type of acquisitions). From the time of the 'shock' until April 2010, there were numerous Japanese acquisitions in Australia (Wallace, 2010). This process has been continuing, as of December 2011, with Japanese MNE Inpex's A$30 billion foreign direct investment in LNG extraction and export project (AAP, 2011; AFP, 2011). Nippon Paper Group's 2009 foreign direct investment in Australia was the ninth biggest Japanese global acquisition in that year (JETRO, 2010), and Mitsubishi Corporation's September 2008 foreign direct investment was the tenth largest (JETRO, 2009). The post-crisis business environment has been beset by uncertainties, and the global mergers and acquisitions had recovered to merely one third of the 2007 levels by the end of 2010 (UNCTAD, 2011). This has been the global trend, the context of the discussion herein. As this paper discusses, the global trend, which UNCTAD describes, does not readily apply to the Japanese foreign direct investment in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan’s ongoing struggle with rapid ageing is well known. Fertility and migration policies have both been proposed as solutions to Japan’s ageing population. We used stock flow population models to estimate the impact of hypothetical fertility and migration policy interventions on measures of aging in Japan from 2015 to 2050. We evaluated policy models based on the Old Age Dependency Ratio (OADR) they produced at the specified end date. Start dates ranged from 2020 to 2030 to assess the time horizons of individual policies. Fertility policies were found to be highly time dependent and only slowed the rate of increase of OADR. It would require a Total Fertility Rate far above replacement levels to compensate for Japan’s already aged demography. Migration policy was less time dependent. However, such measures would require unprecedented, and ultimately unrealistic, volumes of migration over coming decades in order to reduce Japan’s OADR. Our results suggest that fertility and migration based policy responses will be unable to significantly reduce Japan’s OADR or reverse Japan’s ageing population within the next few decades. Japan should focus on activating its human capital through the prolongation of working lives, increasing participation, and improving productivity within the Japanese labour force to mitigate and adapt to the inevitable effects of ageing populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese economy experienced a ten-year period of deflation between 1995 and 2005, an experience that has been unprecedented among industrial economies since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This paper offers an equilibrium explanation of deflationary policy rooted in the time-inconsistency literature, and shows that central bank policy may be susceptible to a deflation bias under a set of conditions resembling those actually faced by the Bank of Japan. The paper offers general lessons about central bank policy and provides further support for the adoption of an inflation-targeting framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the actual conditions of Japanese professors' mobility and to carry out an analysis of the principle on which university researcher mobility is based and of the relationship between mobility and research performance. Design/methodology/approach – Using the Japanese university researcher database which covered job title, research background, research publication performance and so on, the study analyzed the relationship between mobility and the publication rate before/after move. Findings – The paper finds that moves from a research to an education university rarely occur. Moves from an education to a research university, on the other hand, occur with relative frequency. To achieve a move, a high publication rate is required. Post-move publication rate increased greatly for those who moved from an education to a research university and also those who moved from an education university to another education university. Research limitations/implications – In Japan, company employees make decisions depending on expectations of further fulfilment in their companies rather than on mercenary calculations of present best interests. It was discovered that researchers have a desire to move to a better university or one with a better research environment for a brighter future. It is thought that while company employees depend upon the future within the firm, professors depend upon the future within the academic community. Originality/value – Up to now the relationship between mobility and research performance of professors is not necessarily clear in Japan. In this study of the economics field it has become more apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effectiveness of voluntary environmental programs (VEP) adopted by the firms in improving their environmental performance in an emerging economy like India by using data from steel, cement and power sectors. Environmental performance of a firm is represented by its environmental efficiency estimated using directional distance function approach. We estimate a truncated regression model with bootstrapped standard errors to investigate the effectiveness of VEP. We find that there is no significant relationship between the adoption of multiple VEP and the environmental performance of a firm. The results concur with such studies conducted in developed economy like the US and Japan wherein the presence of the prescriptive norms deter the firm to take any additional initiative other than complying to the regulatory requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares recovery in the wake of three recent earthquakes: the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011; the Van earthquake in Turkey in October 2011; and the Maule earthquake in Chile in February 2010. The authors visited all three locations approximately 12-18 months after the incidents and interviewed earthquake specialists, disaster managers, urban planners, and local authorities. A key challenge to post-disaster recovery planning is balancing speed and deliberation. While affected communities must rebuild as quickly as possible, they must also seek to maximise the opportunities for improvement that disasters provide. The three case studies bring this dilemma into stark relief, as recovery was respectively slow, fast, and just right in the aftermath of the events: the Government of Japan adopted a deliberate approach to recovery and reconstruction; speed was of the essence in Turkey; and an effective balance between speed and deliberation was achieved in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the characteristics of healthcare facilities that produce the most efficient inpatient orthopedic surgery using a large-scale medical claims database in Japan. Design/methodology/approach Reimbursement claims data were obtained from April 1 through September 30, 2014. Input-oriented Banker-Charnes-Cooper model of data envelopment analysis (DEA) was employed. The decision-making unit was defined as a healthcare facility where orthopedic surgery was performed. Inputs were defined as the length of stay, the number of beds, and the total costs of expensive surgical devices. Output was defined as total surgical fees for each surgery. Efficiency scores of healthcare facilities were compared among different categories of healthcare facilities. Findings The efficiency scores of healthcare facilities with a diagnosis-procedure combination (DPC) reimbursement were significantly lower than those without DPC ( p=0.0000). All the efficiency scores of clinics with beds were 1. Their efficiency scores were significantly higher than those of university hospitals, public hospitals, and other hospitals ( p=0.0000). Originality/value This is the first research that applied DEA for orthopedic surgery in Japan. The healthcare facilities with DPC reimbursement were less efficient than those without DPC. The clinics with beds were the most efficient among all types of management bodies of healthcare facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labor force in Japan is projected to fall from 64 million in 2014 to 20 million in 2100, signaling unprecedented tax/transfer adjustments to achieve fiscal sustainability. In this paper, we develop a quantitative overlapping generations model to measure the impact of guest worker programs in Japan. Against a baseline general equilibrium transition in which the consumption tax adjusts to achieve fiscal sustainability, we compute alternative transitions with guest worker programs. Depending on the size and skill distribution of guest workers, these programs may mitigate Japan's fiscal imbalance problem with a relatively manageable increase in the consumption tax. ( JEL E2, E6, H5, J11, J15) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive relationship between trust and happiness has been demonstrated by the literature. However, it is not clear how much this relationship depends on environmental conditions. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 is considered one of the most catastrophic events in human history. This disaster caused not only physical damage for Japanese people, but also perceived damage. Using individual-level panel data from Japan covering the period 2009-2012, this paper attempts to probe how the relationship between trust and happiness was influenced by the Great East Japan Earthquake by comparing the same individuals before and after the earthquake. A fixed-effects estimation showed that there is a statistically well-determined positive relationship between trust and happiness and this relationship was strengthened by disaster, especially for residents in the damaged area. We argue that social trust is a substitute for formal institutions and markets, which mitigates the effect of disaster-related shock on psychological conditions such as happiness. Therefore, a trustful society is invulnerable to a gigantic disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper uses firm-level data to examine how supply chain networks affected the recovery of firms from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Extensive supply chains can negatively affect recovery through higher vulnerability to network disruption and positively through support from trading partners, easier search for new partners, and general benefits of agglomeration. Our results indicate that networks with firms outside of the impacted area contributed to the earlier resumption of production, whereas networks within the region contributed to sales recovery in the medium term. The results suggest that the positive effects of supply chains typically exceed the negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous papers, I clearly showed that the annuity part of the Japanese employment pension is miserable and although the lump sum part is fairly good, most of it is spent on renovating housing. This paper shows that this vital element of the Japanese pension system is being eroded at a time when pensioners are in dire need. Also, the erosion is being done in such a way as to encourage earlier retirement and this at a time when the population is ageing fast, thus compounding the problem. It therefore behoves of all those nations that aspire to emulate Japan to think twice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, Japan, and Korea have signed free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with many countries since the late 1990s. This study analyzes the determinants of staging categories for tariff elimination in FTA negotiations of these East Asian countries by using an ordered probit model. The two key findings are (a) each country had set up a product scope for tariff elimination and exclusion list efficiently to maximize its national economic interests, and (b) the staging categories were determined by product-level competitiveness, industrial characteristics, and political factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the use of waste haven hypothesis (WHH) which examines the exporting of physical waste materials from countries with environmental regulation. The author mentions the Japanese government environmental regulations pertaining to potential importers of waste and limits only with four recyclable resource materials. The author also suggest the importance of cost on pollution control, protection of trade and investment flow and social level of environmental standards.

In this paper, we use an overlapping generations model to study the factors generating the saving rate in Japan between 1960–2000. The model economy allows for observed aging of the population, total factor productivity (TFP), and fiscal policy to affect the national saving rate. Our calibrated general equilibrium setup generates saving rates that are reasonably similar to the data during this period. Our counterfactual experiments indicate that observed TFP growth rates are the main reason for both the secular decline and the two humps in the saving rate during 1960–2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that features of Japanese organizations, previously held to be the foundations of innovation, change and flexibility, can equally be significant barriers to change, innovation and adaptation in turbulent economic environments. This paper draws on two in-depth case studies of Japanese organizations. It shows how, in both cases, these firms displayed specific weaknesses in the ways in which they integrate and bundle knowledge, in particular around their research and development (R&D) functions. Despite the adoption of strategies of technological innovation and internationalization, the data suggest that the pursuit of both strategies is beset by barriers of inertia. Embedded internal network connections and knowledge-sharing routines between central R&D and other divisions are inappropriate for the revised strategy. Existing external connections, with preferred suppliers and customers within keiretsu structures, and close relationships with existing R&D partners retard these firms' strategic flexibility. With a limited variety of latent routines, knowledge, capabilities and agency to draw on when needed, these firms have limited organizational responsiveness and high levels of path-dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses how Japanese economic performance affects the Indonesian economy for the 1988 to 2004 period. The empirical evidence provided here suggests that Japanese growth appreciates the local currency in real terms, decreases the inflation and increases growth. As a side issue, we also documented that real exchange rate depreciation accelerates inflation and decreases growth in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify high employment industries in Australia, Japan and the USA using input–output (IO) analysis. It is found that (1) the high and low employment-generating industries in 1980 and/or 1990 are almost the same as those in 1997. Thus on a relative basis, there is no evidence that high employment-generating industries have changed since 1980; and (2) the high and low employment-generating industries are very similar across these three countries. Four of the consistently high employment-generating industries in these countries are Food, Beverage and Tobacco; Chemicals, Petroleum, Coal, Rubber & Non-Metallic Minerals; Basic Metals/Fabricated Products; and Electricity, Gas and Water, with the first three industries being part of manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the causal relationship between real exports and GDP growth in Japan using two recently developed causal modelling approaches. Using Japanese time series, the paper employed the augmented VAR methodology developed by Toda and Yamamoto to test for Granger non-causality. Then, a more recently developed technique of directed acyclic graphs (DAG) was also used in providing over-identifying restrictions on the innovations from a vector autoregression (VAR). In contrast to prior analyses, the application of DAG techniques allows for the examination of both contemporaneous and dynamic causal structure of the exports-productivity nexus. The empirical results reveal that the causal path between exports and GDP growth in Japan is bi-directional. Furthermore, other variables such as capital and foreign output are also significant determinants of productivity growth in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the development potential of rural and highly peripheral areas of Japan, focusing on local factors of development, together with local identity and cultural commodities, as these are incorporated into what has been called the culture economy. Based on a survey of informed local residents and another of local cultural commodities producers, the paper alludes to what constitutes a culture economy for rural settings and identifies several key aspects related to the process of such a cultural commodities-based approach to development. While confirming the importance of identity and cultural commodities in the local development profile of rural settings, the paper sets the groundwork for further research concerning the complex process for how such development can be achieved. The main themes identified for further research include both the nature and role of residents’ solidarity together with the combinative nature of government support and local entrepreneurship in the local culture economy on the one hand, and the character of the advertising and media representation by which cultural commodities are created and maintained on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits a sharp reduction in patient cost sharing at age 70 in Japan, using a regression discontinuity design to examine its effect on utilization, health, and financial risk arising from out-of-pocket expenditures. Due to the national policy, cost sharing is 60-80 percent lower at age 70 than at age 69. I find that both outpatient and inpatient care are price sensitive among the elderly. While I find little impact on mortality and other health outcomes, the results show that reduced cost sharing is associated with lower out-of-pocket expenditures, especially at the right tail of the distribution. (JEL G22, I11, I12, I13, I18, J14) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the article: The present article deals with associations between the development of money supply measured by the monetary base M2 and the development of the Japanesee wider stock index Nikkei 225. The objective of the article is set if the money supply is significant macroeconomic factor which cause the stock bubbles. Methodology/methods: Regarding to the aim of the article was using historic monthly nominal data of money supply (measured with monetary base M2) and monthly close price of Nikkei 225 since 1967 to 2011, adjusted of splites and dividends. This period contain two bubbles which were on japanesee market and the time of economic crisis after 2007. From econometric methods, will be using stationary test - Augmented Dickey- Fuller test, for cointegration between two time series is using Engel-Granger cointegration test and the impact of money supply on japanesee stock index is measured by Granger causality test. Scientific aim: The aim of this article is by using econometric methods find if the nominal money supply, measured by monetary base M2 is a significant factor, which cause the stock bubbles on japanesee stock market. Findings: According to the results of the empirical analysis was found that mnominal money supply represented by wider monetary base M2 is not a significant factor which cause the bubbles, which were identify on japanese stock market in selected period. Concrete wasn't found the impact of money supply on Archipelago boom in 70th and Heisei boom in the 80th. In empirical analysis was only found a long relationship (cointegration) between money supply and stock index Nikkei 225, what correspond with economic theory. Conclusions: This paper can be expand with real variables (inflation adjusted) and compare the result. Higher potencial of this paper is added there another macroeconomic variables, first of all oil price or producer price index, because according to the literature review this can be a significant factors which cabn cause the bubbles and find relationship between these factors and japanese stock index development. Other way is compare the results with e.g. US capital maret, which suppport the market and economy by quantitative easing too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using industry- and micro-level data, this paper examines why Japan's productivity growth has been slow for such a long time and how it can be accelerated in the future. Japan's capital-gross domestic product ratio continued to increase after 1991, and this increase in the capital-gross domestic product ratio must have contributed to the decline in the rate of return on capital in Japan by decreasing the marginal productivity of capital. On the other hand, Japan's accumulation of information and communication technology capital and intangible investment was very slow. Compared with large firms, which enjoyed an acceleration in the total factor productivity growth in recent years, Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises were left behind in information and communication technology capital and intangible investment, and their productivity growth has been very low. Furthermore, as large firms expanded their supply chains globally and relocated their factories abroad, research and development spillovers from large firms to small- and medium-sized enterprises seem to have declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]