The Keynesian Multiplier Effect Reconsidered

In the standard Keynesian framework, government spending on useless public works has a larger multiplier effect than spending on government transfer payments does. In other words, spending on useless public works increases national income by more than an equivalent increase in government transfer payments would. Nevertheless, their effects on national benefit are identical. For both, the national benefit equals the direct benefit created by the spending. If there are two income classes, some transfers reduce both the national income and the national benefit. Some government purchases completely crowd out private consumption and reduce the national benefit.     

Time Patience and Specialization Patterns in the Presence of Asset Trade

Specialization patterns in an open-economy two-sector growth model with endogenous capital accumulation are examined in the presence of free international lending and borrowing. Without free international lending and borrowing it is known that, whereas the less (time-)patient country decumulates real capital, the more patient country accumulates real capital and eventually specializes in a capital-intensive industry. However, free trade of international financial assets causes a dramatic change in long-run specialization patterns. In this case the less patient country may well specialize in the capital-intensive industry and the more patient country in the labor-intensive industry.     

DOES PRO‐POPULATION POLICY RAISE PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION?

We theoretically analyze the effects of a child allowance, an improvement in the efficiency of child rearing and a labour income tax on the fertility rate and per capita consumption. The effects on per capita consumption are opposite in the absence, and the presence, of unemployment. For example, a child allowance urges people to have more children and allocate more labour to child rearing, decreasing labour supply for the purpose of commodity production. Therefore, under full employment it decreases per capita consumption. In the presence of unemployment, however, it reduces the deflationary gap and hence stimulates per capita consumption.     

College Quality and Earnings in the Japanese Labor Market

The motivations underlying the pursuit of college prestige in Japan presumes a labor market that rewards workers according to the quality of the college that they attended. Yet studies that examine the relationship between college quality and earnings in Japan remain few and are riddled with shortcomings. This article examines the returns to college education among Japanese men using a 1995 cross-sectional data set. I find that college quality significantly improves earnings. My findings confirm that college quality plays a crucial role in shaping incentives and earnings in the Japanese labor market.     

日本香菇产业的市场结构

香菇是日本主要的特用林产品，香菇产业为日本农业经济的发展，特别是山区经济的发展起到了十分重要的作用．近10多年以来，由于日本人口老龄化所导致的劳力不足，以及日元汇率的大幅上升和发展中国家的廉价香菇的大量进口，日本的香菇产业受到了较大冲击。但是，凭借其技术优势和产品质量优势，在日本的国内市场中，日本的香菇产业仍然具有较强的竞争力．日本是中国主要的农产品出口国，研究日本香菇产业市场结构的变化过程和变化原因，了解日本香菇产业发展的成功经验和不足之处，有利于提高我国农林产业的效益和农林产品在国际市场上的竞争力。     

GROWTH AND WELFARE EFFECTS OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL TAX‐BASED PUBLIC PENSION REFORM*

This paper presents an overlapping generations model in which: (i) firms create emissions as by‐products of production; and (ii) tax revenue from the working young is transferred to the retired elderly as pay‐as‐you‐go pension benefits. The paper focuses on a replacement ratio, which measures the proportion of after tax work earnings replaced by the public pension, and considers a replacement ratio neutral reform in which the newly introduced environmental tax is devoted to cutting the social security tax, keeping the replacement ratio unchanged. It is shown that the reform may improve growth, environmental quality and the nonenvironmental utility of every generation.     

International Asset Trade,Capital Income Taxation,and Specialization Patterns

This paper constructs a small economy version of dynamic Heckscher‐Ohlin models with overlapping generations and analyzes effects of capital income taxation on the specialization pattern of the country. It is shown that once international asset trade is allowed, in the presence of international technological asymmetries, a small country eventually leads to perfect specialization in our overlapping generations model. It is also shown that the residence‐based tax has no effect on the specialization pattern while the source‐based tax has a negative effect on capital accumulation and thereby it can affect the specialization pattern of the small country.     

WHEN YOU ASK ZEUS A FAVOR: THE THIRD PARTY'S VOICE IN A DICTATOR GAME

We conducted a laboratory experiment on a dictator game with the option for a “voice” by a third party and compared it with the dictator game with a “voice” by the recipient. Our findings are as follows. The dictators' offers in response to an aggressive voice of the recipients are significantly lower than the dictators' offers in response to the corresponding voice of the third party. The dictators' responses to an aggressive voice differentiate the effects of the recipient's voice from those of the third party's.     

The Political Economy of Social Security in a Borrowing‐Constrained Economy

This paper introduces a three‐income class, overlapping‐generations model with borrowing constraints. The labor income tax for financing pay‐as‐you‐go social security is determined in a majoritarian voting game played by successive generations. When the interest‐rate elasticity of consumption is low, the political equilibrium might be characterized by an equilibrium where the old and the middle‐income young individuals form a coalition in favor of a higher tax rate and greater social security, while the low‐ and the high‐income young individuals favor a lower tax rate and less social security. In this equilibrium, the size of social security is decreased by the mean‐preserving reduction of a decisive voter's wage if he/she is borrowing‐constrained.