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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]

Since the turn of the millennium, digitalisation has not only radically changed economies across the world but also allowed for the rise and proliferation of digital platforms. While clearly adaptable, a perception has emerged that existing competition laws are inadequate to accommodate tech giants' unique market positions and market power, feeding calls to not rely solely on these. The European Union (EU) has replied by adopting the Digital Markets Act (DMA), allowing for the designation of digital gatekeepers based on turnover and user numbers. In contrast, Asian countries like Korea and Japan have opted to rely on the notion of 'superior bargaining power' to check market power in the digital realm. While serving the same objective, the Asian approach differs by replacing the need to identify dominance as a precondition for enforcement actions. In contrast, the DMA will be applicable on an ex-ante basis but allow for concurrent policing under traditional competition law ex-post. This paper explores the matter of market power in the digital sphere and the different paths chosen to control it in Europe and Asia, focusing on the example of Korea with respect to the latter. Through a comparative study, we conclude that they are perhaps less different than initially perceived, diverging mostly in their form rather than their content or reach. However, the DMA also serves to suppress the proliferation of national legislation thwarting the European Single Market and debasing competition law. The latter could be a consequence of pressing competition laws to accommodate the special particularities of the digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We use dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965–2009. • We find that patent rights have no effect on productivity growth. • We offer an alternative explanation, finding the ECI positive and significant. • Our results lend evidence that patent rights are insufficient for the inducement of productivity. • We argue it is not discovery that increases productivity, but the ability to adapt. Abstract Does the rigorous protection of patents advance or retard economic development? Two decades ago, a new global standard of intellectual property swept across developing and industrialized nations through the implementation of the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. Many years later, the issue of patent rights remains contentious. In this paper, we focus on the effects of patent rights systems on total factor productivity growth, using dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965 to 2009. We show that the effects of stronger or more rigorous patent systems are insignificant for productivity growth in both developing and industrialized countries. Why does the strength of patents appear to have no impact on productivity? Classic economic theory suggests that stronger patent systems incentive innovative output with important spill-over effects for productivity and growth. We offer an alternative explanation using data from the Economic Complexity Index. We find that while patents rights are increasingly irrelevant to productivity, the relationship between economic complexity and productivity is highly positive and significant. Our results are consistent with the contributions of the absorptive capacity theory in that they suggest it is not the discovery and ownership of novel products and processes at the innovative frontier that induces productive growth, but the ability to adapt, replicate and diffuse along the international productive chain. [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 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]

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]

Presents abstracts of research on economics. "Effectiveness of Official Daily Foreign Exchange Market Intervention Operations in Japan," by Rasmus Fatum and Michael Hutchison; "Macroeconomic Effects of IMF-Sponsored Programs in Latin America: Output Costs, Program Recidivism, and the Vicious Cycle of Failed Stabilization," by Michael Hutchison and Ilan Noy; "Determinants of Voluntary Bank Disclosure: Evidence From Japanese Shinkin Banks," by Mark Spiegel and Nobuyoshi Yamori.

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]

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]

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]

In order to better show the status of China in international scientific and technological cooperation, the paper reference connection number in set pair analysis, and make the connection number corresponding to improvement. From the connection number matrix it can be drawn with that Japan and the U.S. emphasized on academic cooperation, but Germany was dominated by non-academic factors. When predictive and analyze scientific and technological cooperation, we use the Bernstein basis as the predictive curve fitting basis, and the fitting out Bezier curve is not dependent on the trend of data, so it more universal than regression curve predicted. Since data errors exist, the fitting curve corrected to a smooth curve by using the geometric method and the smooth curve makes the curve avoid wiggling. As we use the number of SCI papers that China was first author during China-US cooperation as the fit data, the Bezier curve fitting can be a good reflection the trend of cooperation papers and it can also predict the number of future cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: There is no questioning the immensity of change in Tokyo’s urban landscape over the last few decades, despite the difficulties faced by the Japanese economy. This transformation results from a vigorous promotion of urban restructuring by the state and a keen uptake by corporations. The question examined here is the extent to which Tokyo fits into a palette of policies generally seen as neoliberal and, more generally, how and where Tokyo fits into global narratives of urban change. In order to put some perspective on the nature of urban change in Tokyo, three themes are pursued here that are generally considered to indicate a neoliberal policy turn: a territorial rescaling designed to concentrate energies on places of economic strength; a relaxation of regulations facilitating urban restructuring; and housing and other social policies resulting in residential segregation and producing greater social inequality which finds a spatial expression. In doing this, the paper reviews recent debates in the literature on Tokyo, debates that suggest a difference in view between those who see urban life-spaces as conditioned increasingly by a neoliberal policy approach and others for whom the pattern and spaces of life in Tokyo are colored by a more distinct set of policies molded by the (neo-) developmental state. The paper concludes by arguing that only some elements of a ‘neoliberal urban inventory’ are present in the urban landscape of Tokyo, that they exist within a recognisably neoliberal discursive framework, and that this is best conceptualized within a wider East Asian framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Questions of continuity and transmission, as well as relationship to the community, have long occupied an important part of folk performance scholarship. These topics take on a different urgency in disaster-affected communities, where preexisting socioeconomic issues become more pressing and endanger not only the continuity of folk practices but the communities themselves. The aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami has seen a surge of folk performance revivals in affected areas, hinting to the depth of the ties between local folk performance and community. Following an ethnographic approach, this paper explores the case of the community of Ogatsu (Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture) and its folk performance, the Ogatsu hōin kagura, as one expression of the revival process in an isolated, rural community extensively affected by the 2011 disaster. Putting in perspective the underlying dynamic of continuity and change that characterizes folk performances, the objective is to explore the nature and usage of the kagura and its relationship to the post-disaster community as it responds to changing circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how a carbon tax could affect industrial-related carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions in Japan. Rather than forecasting the effects of a tax, the paper employs a time-series autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model to determine how past subsidies and fuel price changes affected investments in energy and carbon intensity in Japan's iron & steel, chemical, and machinery industries from 1993 to 2004. The results suggest the impacts varied greatly across industries. In the iron & steel industry, subsidies and price changes produced negligible effects on investments in energy and carbon intensity. This may be because existing iron & steel technologies have long lifetimes and substantial replacement costs. It may also be because the few large companies dominating the industry were relatively immune to subsidy provisions and pricing changes. In the chemical industry, subsidies and fuel prices gave rise to investments that improved carbon and energy intensity. This may be because the industry has relatively higher operation costs that could be cut easily given financial incentives. In the machinery industry, two of three fuel price changes (oil and gas), but not subsidy provisions, yielded improvements in carbon and energy intensity. This may reflect the heterogeneity of companies and products comprising the industry. Overall, the study underscores that policymakers need to tailor the rates and revenue recycling provisions of a carbon tax to an industry's unique features to stimulate CO2 reductions. [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]

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]

This paper has three objectives: i) to empirically examine labor market transitions in deindustrializing Asian economies; ii) to study the character of labor market risks and how these risks are shifting by gender, by education level, and by age in the transitional period; and iii) to rethink the commonly accepted assumptions that deindustrialization and globalization are the main causes of new labor market risks and, thus propose the possibility of institutional legacy as an important factor for such risk shifts. This study focuses on the labor market risks in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Three steps are taken in this inquiry. First, this study commences by empirically examining the three labor market changes mentioned above. Second, it challenges the idea of the emergence of 'new risks,' arguing instead for the concept of 'risk shift': the feature of risk shifting to different demographic groups. Lastly, with the empirical evidence already used, this paper discusses whether deindustrialization or globalization is a sufficient cause for risk shifts in deindustrializing Asian economies, proposing that institutional legacy may be an important factor in risk shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reexamines the conventional wisdom that characterizes Sino-Japanese energy relations as predominantly competitive, but views Sino-Japanese environmental relations as essentially cooperative. Using sociological theories of risk, it is argued that Sino-Japanese cooperation is more likely in both the energy and environmental areas when common risks are perceived and relative gains are minimized. Despite their many conflicting strategic, political, and economic interests, as energy importers who are vulnerable to supply interruptions in the Middle East and competitors for global energy supplies, China and Japan share common risks to their energy security. Consequently, there actually may be increasing opportunities for China and Japan to address their common concerns through bilateral and multilateral cooperative practices, such as common positions on pricing or energy conservation initiatives. Although one would expect China and Japan to highlight their mutual interests in tackling environmental problems such as air pollution, in fact relative gains often impede cooperation. Japan increasingly views China as an economic competitor and is reducing environmental aid, while China continues to set a priority on economic growth, which sets limits on the use of costlier Japanese green technologies. By examining a selection of scholarly articles, reports and newspaper articles by Chinese and Japanese analysts, as well as material from interviews in Beijing and Tokyo in May-June 2007, the paper shows how environmental and energy issues in Sino-Japanese relations may be framed as threats, requiring counter-measures, or common risks, which can be addressed through cooperative practices. Lastly, the paper discusses the possibility of the development of an energy security 'risk community' as cooperative practices develop between China and Japan. Nonetheless, conflicting political interests, strategies, and self-images, accentuating relative gains, may provide obstacles to their cooperation in both energy security and environmental protection. [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 argues that the evolution of APEC and the rejection of Japan's 1997 AMF proposal reflect a failure of Japanese and US leadership. Not only have the two countries failed to exercise either individual or shared regional leadership. Instead, both have used their considerable structural power negatively to block the other's proposals for regional collective action, rather than positively to exercise leadership. After developing the concepts of leadership and blocking power, the paper provides case studies of the APEC and AMF. It concludes that if a post-hegemonic US no longer has the willingness and/or the ability to undertake collective action single-handedly, and if in a post-Cold War world neither the US nor Japan has sufficient incentives to bridge their differences and sacrifice some interests to achieve a unified stance, then continued stalemate and under-supply of regional collective goods can be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the economic mobility of foreign migrants in Japan. In a country that is largely regarded as homogeneous and closed to outsiders, how and to what extent do immigrants achieve economic success? A survey conducted by the authors revealed that the conventional assimilationist perspective does not fully explain immigrants' economic success in Japan. Migrants from the West experience what Chiswick and Miller () refer to as 'negative assimilation.' That is, their earnings decline over time in Japan. While negative assimilation was not clearly observed among immigrants from neighboring Asian countries, wages among them did not increase with the length of their stay in Japan. For both groups, the skills they brought from abroad were found to be largely accountable for their economic success, while locally specific human capital, such as education acquired in the host society, did not contribute to their earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of wind energy in Japan and the associated high uncertainties and fluctuations in power generation present a big challenge for both wind power generators and electric grids. Accurate and reliable wind power predictions are necessary to optimize the integration of wind power into existing electrical systems. In this study, a hybrid forecasting system of wind power generation was developed by integrating the Kalman filter (KF) with the high resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model as well as an empirical formula of wind power output (power curve). The system has been validated with observations including wind speed and power output over a six-month period for 15 turbine sites at a wind farm in Awaji-island, Japan. The results show that the tuned WRF model is able to provide hub-height wind speed prediction for the target area with reliability to some extent. The predicted wind field can be substantially improved by the Kalman filter as a post-processing procedure. The 15-turbine averaged improvements of mean error, root mean square error, and correlation coefficient are 97%, 22%, and 10%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kalman filter also demonstrates a promising capability of reducing the uncertainties in the power curve model. Systematic validations regarding both wind speed and power output were carried out against the observations for the target wind farm, which show that the hybrid power forecasting system presented in this paper can be an effective and practical tool for short-term predictions of wind speed and power output in Japan area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan in recent years, there has been much discussion of the need for global human resources alongside criticism of Japanese youth as having an ‘inward-looking’ (uchimuki) orientation. Drawing out the contradictions apparent in a youth apparently reluctant to leave Japan and companies, universitiesand government seemingly desperate to nurture and attract global talent, this paper frames theuchimukidiscourse as a cover for an insular Japan and its failure to attract and foster ‘global human resources’.As such, the two discourses shed a great deal of light on Japan's complex relationship with globalisation. [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]

We highlight the difference between the service sector and the manufacturing sector in regard to the determinants for a firm to start foreign direct investment (FDI) and the resulting productivity growth. This paper analyzes two questions: (1) whether a certain level of initial productivity explains a firm's choice and (2) how the productivity of such a multinational firm changes over time after FDI. Using the longitudinal panel data on Japanese firms from 1980 to 2005, we trace firm-level decisions over decades. We find that the total factor productivity (TFP) does not explain a firm's choice for starting FDI in manufacturing, but it does in service sector. In contrast, the size and the profitability of firms motivate their FDI in the manufacturing sector, but these do not matter in the service sector. In addition, after FDI, we observe 1.3% annual growth rates of TFP in service, whereas firms in manufacturing show only 0.9% growth rates. To eliminate the selection bias, each multinational firm is paired with domestic firm(s) with similar ex-ante characteristics in the same industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Single mothers' relatively high levels of poverty are well documented, but the role that intergenerational coresidence may play in mitigating this disadvantage is not well understood. In this paper, we use multiple rounds of a large national survey between 1986 and 2007 (n = 67,252) to evaluate the extent to which income sharing via intergenerational coresidence limits poverty among single mothers in Japan. Results indicate that conventional poverty rates based on single-mother households overstate the prevalence of poverty among single mothers by 12–20 percent as a result of excluding those who are coresiding with parents. We find no evidence that the prevalence of intergenerational coresidence has changed in a way that would offset the poverty-increasing effect of growth in single parenthood. Finally, we show not only that shared income is the most important factor in limiting poverty among single mothers living with parents, but also that many single mothers are coresiding with parents who are themselves economically disadvantaged. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding relationships between rapid family change and poverty in countries like Japan, where public income support for single mothers is limited and where family support via intergenerational coresidence is both common and normative. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Coffee is an important global beverage, and has received significant attention especially in terms of the social and environmental sustainability of its production. This paper calculates the product carbon footprint (PCF) and conducts an analysis of energy usage for six alternative coffee products. The analysis shows that espresso coffee had the lowest impact (0.13 kWh and 49 g CO2 per serve), while canned coffee provided the highest impact (0.76 kWh and 223 g CO2 per serve). The latte had the second highest embodied energy impact, with 0.54 kWh and the highest PCF of 224 g CO2 per serve. On a per millilitre basis however, espresso coffee provided the highest impact (0.0048 kWh/mL and 0.8 g CO2-eq/mL), followed by canned coffee and the latte. This indicates that care must be used in the selection of an appropriate functional unit, as the ranking of PCF can be overturned according to the basis of comparison. The highest contributing factors were the emissions from milk, packaging (for the can) and the production stages of the green coffee beans. Despite only holding around 17% of the market share of consumed coffee, the canned coffee product contributes around half of the national carbon footprint from coffee consumption. Current commercial incentives for consumers to use their own cups were compared to carbon taxation and found to value carbon approximately three orders of magnitude higher than carbon market rates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since the early 1950s, Japanese farmland rents have been regulated and a consensus emerged that rent control led to market failure. Hypothesising a rent-formation model where rents are determined by prices, this paper estimates a threshold autoregressive model which integrates three tests of market failure, namely, inefficiency, bias and asymmetry. There are four results. First, a long-run relationship exists between rents and prices, and the Japanese farmland rental market is efficient. Second, the rent-price elasticity is unity and the market is unbiased. Third, rents are Granger-caused by prices which supports the rent-formation model. Fourth, asymmetry exists where more rapid error-correction occurs immediately after policy reform when rent growth exceeds price growth by 3.6% or more, and rent control has benefitted tenants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of domestic emissions trading schemes (ETS) can impose a heavy burden on energy-intensive industries. Particularly, energy-intensive industries competing with foreign competitors could lose their international edge. Although the abatement of CO emissions in industrialized countries entails the reduction of their energy-intensive production, a corresponding increase in the production of energy-intensive goods in countries without CO regulations may lead to carbon 'leakage.' This paper examines the effects of various allocation methods of emissions permits in the Japanese ETS on the economy and CO emissions using a multiregional and multisector computable general equilibrium model. Specifically, we apply the Fischer and Fox (Land Econ 83(4):575-599, ) model to the Japanese economy to address carbon leakage and competitiveness issues. We compare auction schemes, grandfathering schemes, and output-based allocation (OBA) schemes. We further extend the model by examining a combination of auctions and OBA. Though the auction scheme is found to be the best in terms of macroeconomic impacts, the leakage rate is high and the harm to energy-intensive sectors can be significant. OBA causes less leakage and damage to energy-intensive sectors, but the macroeconomic impact is undesirable. Considering all three effects-leakage, competitiveness, and macroeconomics-we find that combinations of auctions and OBA are desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a fundamental failing in the debate on the decline of American economic power is not taking globalization seriously. With the rise of transnational corporations ( TNCs), transnational modular production networks, and the globalization of corporate ownership, we can no longer give the same relevance to national accounts such as balance of trade and GDP in the twenty-first century as we did in the mid-twentieth. Rather, we must summon data on the TNCs themselves to encompass their transnational operations. This will reveal, for example, that despite the declining global share of United States GDP from 40% in 1960 to below a quarter from 2008 onward, American corporations continue to dominate sector after sector. In fact, in certain advanced sectors such as aerospace and software-even in financial services-American dominance has increased since 2008. There are no serious contenders, including China. By looking at the wrong data, many have failed to see that American economic power has not declined-it has globalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, a considerable body of English-language academic work has shed much light on Japan's empire-building project in Greater China during the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, Japanese-language studies of the country's pre-war financial history have also grown in leaps and bounds. Yet, to date, neither body of literature seems to have fully examined what might appear to the naked eye as one of the critical pre-war junctures, where Japanese financial history converged on imperial policy and Chinese nationalist responses thereto.1 This paper will therefore aim to fill part of the gap by examining how the Yokohama Specie Bank, arguably the backbone of Japanese finance in China Proper, was affected by Chinese anti-foreign boycotts throughout the pre-war era (1842–1937). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we present data on recent trends in private consumption and in possible determinants of private consumption (such as GDP, household incomes, household saving rates, household wealth, and employment conditions) in the group of seven (G7) countries and find that there has been significant variability among the G7 countries not only in their private consumption growth rates but also in the determinants of private consumption growth during the 2002–2007 period. With respect to Japan, we find that private consumption has been relatively stagnant during the 2002–2007 period and that the stagnation of private consumption has been due to the stagnation of household income and of household wealth and the relative stability of the household saving rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we measure the energy efficiency of 17 sectors in the Japanese economy during 1998–2005 using data envelopment analysis (DEA), in which a total-factor framework is applied. We compute the total-factor energy efficiency, which is defined as the ratio of the target energy input suggested by the DEA to the actual energy inputs in a sector. Energy, labor, and capital are the three inputs, while the value added in each sector is the single output. Our major finding is that remarkably energy-inefficient sectors in the Japanese economy include energy-intensive industries (i.e., pulp and paper, chemical, cement and ceramics, and primary metal sectors) as well as agriculture, forestry and fishery, transportation and communication, and miscellaneous manufacturing. There is much room to improve energy efficiency in Japanese industrial sectors. Moreover, for 8 sectors, including energy-intensive industries, the inefficiency of energy use is much worse than that of other resource usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose |!|#8211; The 9th S|!|#38;T Foresight for Japan has recently been completed. A key element of this Foresight is that S|!|#38;T is now expected to indicate solutions for broad social issues and global issues (climate change, etc.) including those that address Japan|!|#39;s most urgent challenges (e.g. energy, aging population). This mission-oriented foresight is novel for the Japanese, since prior foresight exercises have been done with a technology focus. This paper aims to address how the new view of foresight |!|#8211; as more than mere technical potentials |!|#8211; has resulted in several types of foresight impacts, which are noted in the main text.Design/methodology/approach |!|#8211; The 9th Delphi Survey involved two types of interdisciplinary perspectives related to Japan|!|#39;s social future (Safe, Secure, Cooperation and Collaboration) and 12 S|!|#38;T fields. The committees discussed what could emerge within 30 years and involved 26 domains of social expertise and 140 specialists.Findings |!|#8211; The 9th S|!|#38;T Foresight investigation consists of an integration of three foresight methods |!|#8211; Delphi survey, scenario writing, and capability of local regions for green innovation |!|#8211; regarding sustainable development. Each method provides clear messages, and has unique impacts.Originality/value |!|#8211; Overall, a major foresight impact has been to enable a broader view of innovation to prevail in this ninth foresight, where social-scenario insights and more socially adaptive policies complement the traditional S|!|#38;T focus developed by Delphi surveys 1-8. This shifted the policy discourse toward societal innovation from technical innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, earthquakes cause economic and human losses around the globe. In Japan, a great deal of attention has focused on improving the safety of structures and individuals in the last decade. The introduction here of several new related policies, together with continuous discussion of such policies, has raised the level of environmental security nationwide. Despite this significant effort, individual preparedness and awareness are still lacking, especially in rural areas, where technological advancements and policy applications often arrive late. In this paper, Kawaguchi in Niigata Prefecture, Japan was chosen as study area because of both the major damage experienced during the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake and the particularly dynamic socio-cultural activities of the community. Using interviews and questionnaires to collect information, this study aims to investigate the causes of local variations in community behaviour after the earthquake. Geographic location as well as everyday social relationships, social interactions and organisation are considered the main causes of the differences in community organisation during the recovery process. This study highlights the necessity for more localised emergency education in order to promote longer-lasting awareness and preparation in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, I build a model of family labor supply and residential choices that explicitly incorporates the full-time or part-time work decisions of married women. The model can explain why women’s participation patterns in full-time and part-time work vary significantly in areas that are geographically close but differ in real estate prices. The model suggests that high commuting costs could be one of the main obstacles for women’s full-time employment in places like the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this paper is to define low carbon society (LCS) based on the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT [Human Impact (I) on the environment equals the product of population (P) affluence (A) and technology (T)], starting from the problem definitions: (1) Economy is not everything for LCS and (2) it is not clear if speed on the constraint is more important than liberation from it. To tackle these problems, two research questions are set: (1) What are the basic indicators, objects, and constraints to shape the argument of LCSs and (2) what are the historical paths of several countries and what can be said for their future paths toward carbon societies? Time series data from 1900 or before are used, while the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT equation is used as the core methodology. In addition to the IPAT variables, the importance of land per capita shall be considered as another basic indicator for LCS related to the carrying capacity. The three different kinds of objects [i.e., total gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, and social indicator] and the two constraints (i.e., total emission and emission per capita) are considered, and it is shown that the combination of these objects and constraints strongly affects the argument of the carrying capacity of climate and land, development of economic system and economic man, and other human developments. Among the four cases analyzed in the phase diagram, the case where GDP per capita is object and total emission is constraint is given the most attention and requires the further research in the future since it does not contradict with a definition of LCS. It is also suggested that if changing the direction of the path with low carbon technology development takes time and cost, institutional arrangement would be additionally necessary in addition to market mechanism where optimal solutions are found on constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western European nations, along with the USA and Japan, have been recognised as the world's most competitive economies. Eastern European nations have generally been considered to lag. This paper explores whether these descriptions remain accurate and the prospects for change over the coming decade. The Georgia Tech 'High Tech Indicators' (HTI) contribute to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Science & Engineering Indicators. We cover 33 highly developed and rapidly industrialising countries. Our model of technological competitiveness contains four components - National Orientation, Socioeconomic Infrastructure, Technological Infrastructure, and Productive Capacity - contributing to 'Technological Standing.' We present indicator values, derived from survey and statistical panel data, for 13 European nations (plus the USA as a benchmark), for 1993-2005, and draw inferences about future high tech competitiveness. We see limited technological progress of the Eastern European nations. European prospects appear somewhat uncertain given the dramatic competitive thrusts from Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rice super cultivar ‘Koshihikari’, grown on 37% of the total rice area in Japan, has been a leading cultivar since 1979. It is also grown in the USA and Australia. However, its tendency to lodge makes harvest difficult and reduces grain quality, and the regularity of large-scale typhoons compromises its production nationally. The genetic improvement of Koshihikari against lodging has been an extremely important theme for the past 30 years in Japan. This paper describes the development of a semidwarf form of Koshihikari by the fixing of an allele of the Green Revolution semidwarf gene sd1 via eight recurrent backcrosses. The cultivar, with excellent flavor and high yield, was named ‘Hikarishinseiki’, which means “Bright New Century” (rice cultivar No. 12273; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan: MAFF). Hikarishinseiki, with ≥99.8% of the Koshihikari genome, is about 20cm shorter than Koshihikari. DNA monitoring of Hikarishinseiki confirmed its genomic substitution into Koshihikari except for sd1 and a marker-based method to distinguish Koshihikari from Hikarishinseiki was developed. Its flavor (upper medium grade) and quality were the same as those of Koshihikari grown at 10 sites across Japan, but its yield was on average 3% higher (maximum 29% higher at Hyogo) than that of Koshihikari and it was highly resistant to lodging. Hikarishinseiki is the first semidwarf form of Koshihikari registered by MAFF. Some economical impact has been achieved by introducing Hikarishinseiki and it is already notified as a brand rice description in the rice-producing districts of Niigata, Shiga, Tottori, Okayama, Tokushima, and Kochi prefectures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper aims to explore the sensitivity of longevity-adjusted measures of income, which have become increasingly popular as indicators of basic standards of living. For that purpose, longevity-adjusted income measures are computed for post-war Japan under various sets of postulates, concerning the temporal horizon regarded as relevant for the measurement of welfare, the ethical treatment of age structures, the degree of endogeneity of longevity, the value of a statistical life (VSL) used in the calibration of preference parameters, and preference parameters themselves (for a given VSL). Pictures of Japan's development are significantly sensitive to those postulates, suggesting that longevity-adjusted income measures should be computed under not one—as is usually done—but several assumption sets, to account for the difficulty of solving the income/longevity weighting problem. Hence, this study casts new light on the trade-offs raised by the aggregation of economic and demographic achievements into a preferences-based composite indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2005 UNESCO produced its Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This was largely a response to the worries of countries, especially in Europe and not least of which France, which feared the damaging effects to their cultures if trade in entertainment products remained too one-sided. Generally the argument of this paper is that while initial tensions between the United States and Europe were motivated by the usual commercial concerns, Europeans were increasingly worried about the cultural impact of this commerce. The Japanese, however, have not been nearly so concerned as the Europeans about becoming 'Americanized'. This lack of tension between the United States and Japan in the area of film and television is due to several factors. First, there is a complementarity between American entertainment and the Japanese electronics industry. Second, the Japanese are major players in some aspects of the entertainment industry, most especially in the area of animation, and they are especially influential in Asia. Finally, issues of cultural conflict between the United States and Japan are simply less salient to Tokyo than those which characterize Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines US, Japanese, and European political economy approaches to China, and their effect on US-Japan and US-EU relationships. Great powers with a greater security concern in dealing with another major country care more about power while those with less of a concern are preoccupied with calculations for wealth. China's rise and its actions have posed a far greater security challenge to the United States and Japan and are driving the two countries closer together. The political economy game involving China reveals a dominant welfare motive among the advanced market economies. The ambition to transform China politically has diminished. China's integration into the global market makes a relative gains approach difficult to implement. Globalization simply limits the ability of a state to follow a politics-in-command approach in the absence of actual military conflict, which explains why the political economy approaches of the United States, Europe, and Japan are not that different in the scheme of things. China's own grand strategy to reach out to the world to outflank the US-Japan alliance has also contributed to a divergent European policy toward China although there are severe limitations to Beijing's ability to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's condominium sector expanded rapidly along with post-war urbanisation and high-speed economic growth. However, the bursting of the bubble economy in the 1990s undermined land and housing markets. Capital losses on condominiums have been disproportionate, especially in cases of older, smaller or non-centrally located condominiums. This analysis incorporates socio-cultural elements in explaining emerging patterns of fragmentation among homeowners and property values. It illustrates relationships between the meaning of housing commodities and the context of indigenous production and consumption processes in urban Japan. The paper specifically draws upon data from interviews with Japanese homeowners to illustrate the significance of values and perceptions in the modern condominium sector and their relationship to changing socioeconomic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper which includes a summary of questions raised during the discussion series at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the World Society for Ekistics. It discusses the questions pertaining to globalization and Ekistics, a group of people who live in Nara, Japan. It presents the questions that were raised in response to globalization including how to manage the process of globalization, and how the Ekistics framework help the society to deal with this challenge.

The paper examines if the ‘economic centre’ of Asia is likely to shift over the next 20 years. In this context, it addresses the widely held notion that a deterioration of Southeast Asia's geographic centrality within the Asia Pacific region is likely to occur due to the rise of China. GNP-weighted centrality indices are calculated for major Asian cities, and it is shown that the changing economic map of Asia is unlikely to lead to geographic marginalization of Southeast Asia: even if the economic importance of China increases significantly, this will be more than offset by the corresponding decline of Japan. As a consequence, the total economic weight of Northeast Asia is likely to decrease slightly compared to Southeast Asia and Greater India over the next 20 years, with the economic centre of Asia moving further to the southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated system of political-economic relations that has prevailed in the Pacific since the September 1951 treaty of peace with Japan, known here as the San Francisco System, is distinctive in comparison with subregional systems elsewhere in the world. This paper outlines key defining features, such as (1) a dense network of bilateral alliances; (2) an absence of multilateral security structures; (3) strong asymmetry in alliance relations, both in security and economics; (4) special precedence to Japan; and (5) liberal trade access to American markets, coupled with relatively limited development assistance. After contrasting this system to analogous arrangements elsewhere, especially in the Atlantic, it explores both the origins and the prognosis of this remarkably durable political-economic entity. Complementary domestic political-economic interests on both sides of the Pacific, reinforcing a brilliant original Japan-centric design by John Foster Dulles, account for persistence, it is argued, while forces for change center on the dynamic emerging role of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of simultaneous global clinical trials and drug registration strategies has increased the demand for global pharmacoeconomic strategies. Outcomes researchers in pharmaceutical companies are faced with the challenge of assessing at a strategic level what pharmacoeconomic data are most useful in Japan and when, and then deciding at a tactical level what type of study designs are feasible. This paper is written mainly for the benefit of researchers working outside of Japan in the pharmaceutical/medical device industry or academia who are interested in conducting research in Japan. We reviewed the existing pharmacoeconomic literature in Japan, and found that the number of studies per year has been steadily increasing. The majority of studies have been cost-effectiveness and cost-consequence analyses. Typical data sources available in Japan are somewhat limited compared with other Western countries. However, charge data can be easily accessed through the national uniform reimbursement fee system and these data are particularly relevant for pharmaceutical pricing negotiations with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The present use of pharmacoeconomic data by pharmaceutical companies is mainly for pricing negotiations but recent reforms make certain types of data useful for marketing strategies too. The demand for pharmacoeconomic data may increase because of upcoming MHLW pharmaceutical pricing and/or recent health insurance system reforms. Economic evaluation of medical technologies in Japan, though lagging behind North America, Australia and Europe, has the potential to rapidly gather momentum as increasing cost-escalation worries contribute to a growing interest in pharmacoeconomic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]