Recognition versus disclosure of finance leases: Evidence from Japan

This study examines whether credit market participants—bond investors and credit rating agencies—treat recognized and disclosed finance leases differently when assessing firms’ credit risk in Japan. I use firms’ credit risk, measured by bond spreads and credit ratings, to investigate the relations between recognized versus disclosed finance lease obligations and firms’ credit risk following the adoption of Statement No. 13, Accounting Standard for Lease Transactions. For a sample of firms issuing new bonds, I find that, unlike recognized finance leases, disclosed finance leases are not associated with bond spreads. Moreover, the associations between recognized versus disclosed finance leases and bond spreads are substantially different. Conversely, recognized and disclosed finance leases are associated with credit ratings and are processed similarly when credit ratings are determined. Taken together, my results suggest that the sophistication of capital market participants influences their credit risk assessments of recognized versus disclosed finance leases.     

The Regime Switching Portfolios

In this paper we develop a portfolio selection theory under regime switching means and volatilities. We use log mean-variance as the portfolio selection criteria and, as a result, the theory is made substantially easier to implement than other existing theories. Moreover, the estimated regimes are easy to interpret as one of the regimes corresponds to the business cycle turning points. Finally, we conduct an asset allocation simulation and obtain reasonable results by introducing an idea of switching volatility targets.     

Do Conspicuous Consumers Pay Higher Housing Premiums? Spatial and Temporal Variation in the United States

This study is the first to examine the relationship between conspicuous demand and housing price dynamics. We hypothesize that conspicuous consumers would want high‐end homes to signal their wealth and this housing consumption behavior would induce greater deviations from fundamental house prices. We test this by using a unique dataset that matches the consumers’ appetite for nonhousing luxury goods from Google Insights for Search to housing premiums that they pay for high‐end houses in U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) during 2004–2011. The estimation results demonstrate that controlling for a wide range of MSA demographic and economic characteristics, conspicuous demand has a significant, positive relationship with housing premiums. This relationship varies spatially and temporally. Conspicuous demand has a stronger relationship with a price increase in high‐end homes in MSAs with a steady, higher housing premium than in MSAs with a volatile, lower premium during the boom period. In MSAs with a steady, higher housing premium, the relationship remains significant even during the bust period, potentially contributing to maintaining higher housing premiums.     

Existence of equilibrium configurations of competitive firms on an infinite two-dimensional space

This paper analytically examines the existence of equilibrium configurations of competitive firms on an infinite two-dimensional space. It is shown that the Löschian configuration (a regular-hexagonal lattice) and a square lattice are in global equilibrium; the Löschian configuration is in the strongest global equilibrium among the regular lattices (in this sense, spatial competition leads to the social optimum); and the so-called back-to-back configuration is not in equilibrium. These results are in marked contrast to those obtained from a one-dimensional model, implying that spatial equilibrium configurations in a two-dimensional space should not be inferred only from one-dimensional models frequently employed in spatial economics.     

Price Linkages in Asian Equity Markets: Evidence Bordering the Asian Economic, Currency and Financial Crises

This paper examines price linkages among Asian equity markets in the period surrounding the recent Asian economic, financial and currency crises. Three developed markets (Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore) and six emerging markets (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand) are included in the analysis. Multivariate cointegration and level VAR procedures are conducted to examine causal relationships among these markets. The results indicate that there is a stationary relationship and significant causal linkages between the Asian equity markets. Nevertheless, lower causal relationships that exist between the developed and emerging equity markets suggest that opportunities for international portfolio diversification in Asian equity markets still exist.     

A revised model of experiential learning with a debriefing checklist

Although Kolb’s experiential learning model has been widely used and remains among the most influential frameworks in the fields of human resource development, management education and higher education, it has been criticized for failing to propose a second‐order learning process. The purpose of this study was to revise Kolb’s model by addressing its limitations. The revised model consists of (1) expected and unexpected experiences, (2) the management of emotions, (3) reflective analysis, (4) abstract conceptualization, (5) unlearning, and (6) active experimentation. Developed from the revised model, we created a checklist for debriefing experience‐based training programs. The contribution of this study is its development of a framework and a checklist for deep experiential learning.     

From the substance to the shadow: the role of the court in Japanese labour markets

Modern contract law generally does not allow property rights or similar claims to be made against employees. This undermines a claim on the return on the employer's investments in recruiting and training a worker, making them vulnerable to possible infringement from a bystander. Accordingly, employers’ investment in recruiting and training might become deficient. Therefore, protecting an employer's investment, balanced against the mobility of the labour market for better employer/employee matches, has emerged as an issue during the transition towards a market‐based economy. This article explores how the Japanese state court in its early period addressed this issue in the tight labour market of the silk‐reeling industry, which was the leading industry at that time. Initially, the court directly protected the interests of employers whose employees were poached, at the expense of workers’ mobility. Then, it seemed to govern transactions between employers indirectly as a shadow off‐the‐equilibrium path. Thus, an employer whose employee was poached and an employer who carried out the poaching would privately negotiate to settle the dispute, using a possible suit as a threat against the poacher. An examination of the suits that were actually filed supports this hypothesis. This indirect governance facilitated labour market mobility with some protection of the original employer's claim.     

An Emergency Evacuation Planning Model Using the Universally Quickest Flow

In recent years, catastrophic disasters by massive earthquakes have been increasing in the world, and disaster management is required more than ever. In the case of disasters such as tsunamis, a slight delay in evacuation may deprive evacuees of life. In this article, we formalize the emergency evacuation planning model for evacuation from tsunamis and other disasters based on the idea of the universally quickest flow. We show that there does not always exist a universally quickest flow when the capacity constraint of refuges is taken into account. Therefore, we propose an alternative criterion that approximates a universally quickest flow, and presents an algorithm for finding an optimal flow for this criterion. Numerical experiments are carried out for the evacuation of a local city in Japan where tsunami damages are assumed to occur when a large earthquake occurs in the ocean nearby.     

中国循环农业发展评估——政策回顾与对辽中县的调研案例

循环农业涉及农业废弃物的循环性利用和资源保护等方面,在中国获得了越来越多的关注。当前对循环农业的政府干预手段较多,但目的和手段都不尽相同。因此,有必要对这些政策系统化,并进行深入了解,提出具体建议,以促进循环农业发展。研究总结中国有关循环农业发展的现行政策,揭示影响其发展的关键因素,选择辽宁省沈阳市辽中县为案例,通过比较分析循环农业和非循环农业的农业管理方式差异,揭示农民培训的重要性。研究结果表明,循环农业生产者使用农家肥的比例(38%)明显高于非循环农业生产者(6%),使用化肥的比例(90%)低于非循环农业生产者(98%)。每种作物的U-STAT和模式都显示循环农业生产者比非循环农业生产者使用更少的农家肥和化肥。循环农业生产者玉米的产量明显高于非循环农业生产者。许多循环农业生产者使用化肥,其数量与非循环农业生产者使用的并没有很大的区别。因此,为了推动循环农业发展,传授循环农业技术,开展具体技术培训和信息服务比简单的宣传更为重要。