Redistributive taxation,wealth distribution,and economic growth

This paper examines the relationship between wealth distribution and economic growth in an endogenous growth model with heterogeneous households and redistributive taxation. In this paper, we incorporate an endogenous determination of redistributive policy into the model, focusing on the relation between pre- and post-tax inequality. Endogenous redistributive policy affects wealth distribution and economic growth. Therefore, the relation between post-tax inequality and economic growth is different from that between pre-tax inequality and economic growth. Results show that there exists a negative correlation between pre-tax inequality and economic growth, whereas there exists an inverted-U relationship between post-tax inequality and economic growth in a voting equilibrium.     

Shift of the short-term temperature mortality relationship by a climate factor - some evidence necessary to take account of in estimating the health effect of global warming

Several studies have reported a 'V'-shaped relationship between short-term temperature and mortality rates, characterized by mortality rates that are higher when the temperature is extremely low or high than when the temperature is moderate. To quantify the effect of adaptation to a certain climate on this V-shaped short-term temperature-mortality relationship, we studied the prefecture-specific relationship between daily maximum temperature and mortality rates for 65+-years-old Japanese from 1972 to 1990. For both genders, the optimum daily maximum temperature (OT) category at which the mortality rate was minimum ranged from 23C-28 C to 33+C, and the OT level became lower when the climate became colder. The mean OT level was lower for women than for men by 1.7C. The mortality rate at the OT was almost constant across prefectures, regardless of the climate. From the results, we considered that the adaptation effect on the short-term temperature-mortality relationship is mainly described by the 'horizontal shift model': the V-shape moves horizontally according to the climate. This 'shift' should be taken into account in estimating the health effect of global warming, and the model would be useful for the estimation.     

PUBLIC CAPITAL,TAXATION AND ENDOGENOUS GROWTH IN A FINITE HORIZONS MODEL

This paper presents development of an endogenously growing finite horizons model with public capital, and investigates macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy and a change in life expectancy. Specifically regarding novel results, a growth‐maximizing income tax rate exists that is less than the elasticity of public capital to output. In addition, in the model with income tax financing, there might exist an inverted‐U‐shaped relationship between life expectancy and growth, which is consistent with some empirical evidence. In this paper, we elucidate the interaction among public capital accumulation, taxes, growth, welfare and life expectancy.     

Who gains from capital market integration? Tax competition between unionized and non‐unionized countries

The welfare effects of capital market integration are examined under a model of tax competition with two asymmetric countries. The asymmetry is expressed through the labour market: one country has a perfect labour market whereas the other country's labour market is unionized. Our results indicate that the welfare effects of capital market integration differ depending on whether governments are active or passive in attracting capital. In the absence of active governments, capital market integration benefits the country with a competitive labour market whereas it harms the unionized country. Capital market integration benefits both countries if governments are active and compete for mobile capital using taxes/subsidies.     

Hepatocellular carcinoma: Prospective assessments of the T-factor with CT,US, and MR imaging

The capabilities of computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography (US), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging were studied in order to determine the role of each of these noninvasive examinations for estimating the T-factor of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Fifty-one patients with surgically proven HCCs received CT (50 patients), US (46 patients), and MR (44 patients). The images of CT, US, and MR were prospectively evaluated for main tumor size, intrahepatic metastases, and vascular invasion, which compose the T-factor of HCC, and compared to pathological results. The sizes of the main tumor were estimated correctly by all examinations. For estimating intrahepatic metastases, US (74%) and MR (73%) were superior to CT (65%). For estimating portal invasion, CT (79%) was superior to US (70%) and MR (66%), because CT could demonstrate the segmental staining caused by portal invasion. The estimates of hepatic venous invasion were difficult during any of the examinations. We conclude that presurgical evaluations of the T-factor require the use of US and CT or MR and CT.     

Efficiency and the quality of management and care: evidence from Japanese public hospitals

We study how the quality of hospital management and medical care both affect efficiency in Japanese local public hospitals. The efficiency is estimated by a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and is regressed against the quality scores in hospital accreditation by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC). We find that rule-based hospital management relates to high efficiency, while the suitable management of beds and supplies relates to low efficiency.     

Public goods provision,redistributive taxation,and wealth accumulation

This paper presents an extension of a static model of public goods provision with redistributional taxation, as described by Uler [Journal of Public Economics 93 (3–4), pp. 440–453], as a dynamic model of wealth accumulation. Intertemporal consumption and saving behavior strongly affect the relation between redistributive taxation and charitable contribution. Indeed, the analyses presented herein reveal that more patience (i.e. higher saving) engenders a lower redistributional tax rate. However, the optimal redistributive tax rate is not zero because redistributive taxation improves the efficiency of providing public goods that are not improved by balanced growth. This paper fills the gap separating static analysis and dynamic analysis, and generalizes the results presented by static analysis.     

Variety of products,public capital,and endogenous growth

This paper develops an extension of the endogenous growth model with variety expansion presented in Romer [Romer, P.M., 1990. Endogenous technical change, Journal of Political Economy 98, part 2, S71–S102] by considering public capital accumulation. Characterizing the transitional dynamics, the growth rate of consumption traces (and available number of intermediate goods also might trace) an S-shaped converging path to the equilibrium growth rate, similar to a logistic growth curve, if the intensity of public capital is sufficiently high. We also show that public investment enhances economic growth because it stimulates demand for intermediate goods and raises the market interest rate.