R&D Strategy in International Mixed Duopoly with Research Spillovers

This paper examines the international mixed duopoly behaviour with research spillovers. Using a two‐stage game with Research and Development (R&D) and output, we investigate the effects of imperfectly appropriable R&D on optimal R&D strategies of a domestic public firm and a foreign private firm across different market interactions: (i) international R&D competition, (ii) only the foreign firm conducts R&D, (iii) only the domestic public firm conducts R&D, (iv) no firm conducts R&D, and (v) research joint venture. The results show that firms' research performances are determined by the degree of spillovers and the optimal R&D strategies involve R&D competition. Spillovers are shown to be socially beneficial and their absence can prove to be a strategic deterrent, with the public firm monopolising the market. Some of these findings contrast with the traditional models of oligopoly (with or without R&D) and mixed oligopoly (without R&D).     

R&D,free entry,and social inefficiency

We employ a three-stage game model with cost-reducing research and development (R&D) that is subject to spillovers to consider the problem of excess entry under free-entry equilibrium relative to the social optimum. Firms choose to enter or exit a market in the first stage, choose R&D in the second stage and output in the final stage. Results show that there is socially inefficient or excessive entry in equilibrium. However, we uniquely demonstrate that research spillovers hold the key to whether established results regarding socially inefficient entry hold. Specifically, excessive entry occurs as long as research spillovers are relatively small, but this is not necessarily the case with large spillovers. Some policy implications are discussed.     

Early twentieth-century Japanese worker saving: precautionary behaviour before a social safety net

This paper pools data from independent household surveys of Japanese workers roughly spanning the Taishō period (1912–1926), a time before private-business or government-provided social safety nets. First, we construct estimates of permanent and transitory income and then estimate saving functions consistent with intertemporal optimization. The saving behaviour of Japanese worker households is in turn compared with that of American worker households before World War I, a time when they too lacked access to general social services. The estimated marginal propensities to save out of permanent and transitory incomes were quite similar for Japanese and American worker households, but the Japanese ones saved more at a given level of income. The economic environment facing Japanese workers, however, seemed to be no riskier than that facing American workers. We attribute instead this result primarily to the widespread postal savings banks in Japan which increased the convenience and decreased the risk of saving.     

On the determinants of bonuses and basic wages in large Japanese firms

The profit-sharing model has attracted considerable attention as a hypothesis to explain wage flexibility and employment stability in Japan. This paper presents an alternative explanation of how bonuses and basic wages are determined in Japan, based on the efficiency wage hypothesis. In particular, we focus on the aspect that bonuses are paid to compensate employees for the intensity of work experienced during the last period, and basic wages are affected mainly by labor market conditions and are not firm-specific. We compare the two models, testing them for both industry aggregate data and firm microdata.     

Japanese distribution system: The impact of newly designed collaborations on wholesalers' performance

In January 1995, the Kobe earthquake devastated a major part of Kobe's distribution infrastructure. Apart from the expected complaints about lost sales, wholesalers reported some surprising comments after the reopening. Wholesalers stressed the advantages of newly designed distribution channels, especially the opportunity to end longstanding business relationships known as keiretsu. This study is concerned with the recent development of vertical collaboration in the Japanese distribution channel. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the supplier's service to wholesaler, the supplier's offerings to the wholesaler, and buyer's service to the wholesaler did contribute to the enhancement of the performance of the wholesaler. The three factors explained 16% of the wholesaler's performance. The regression analysis also showed that the wholesaler's intra-logistics activities contributed to the improvement of the performance of the wholesaler and explained 5% of its performance.     

THE DEMAND FOR CIGARETTES IN JAPAN: IMPACT OF INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ON CIGARETTE CONSUMPTION

The authors present a theoretical derivation of cigarette demand and estimate the demand in Japan with prefecturE-level data. By examining the impact of information dissemination regarding the health hazards of smoking, the authors argue that information dissemination is an effective instrument of public health policy, supplementary to cigarette taxation and antismoking ordinances.     

The association between osteoporosis and patient outcomes in Japan

Objective To quantify the burden of osteoporosis and examine the interplay between osteoporosis and various comorbidities as it relates to patient outcomes.

Methods Data from the 2011 Japan National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS; n?=?30 000), an internet health survey fielded to a nationally representative sample of the Japanese population were used. Only women between the ages of 50–90 years were included in the analyses (n?=?6950).

Results Compared with matched controls (n?=?404), patients with osteoporosis (n?=?404) had lower MCS scores (48.94 vs 51.63), PCS scores (45.57 vs 49.12) (all p?<?0.05). The presence of osteoporosis was associated with worse patient outcomes among those with hypertension, high cholesterol, and insomnia, among other conditions.

Conclusions The results suggest a significant quality-of-life and economic burden for patients with osteoporosis in Japan. Moreover, in a complex co-morbid environment, the presence of osteoporosis contributes more to patient outcomes than other chronic conditions.