Are the Japanese Selfish,Altruistic or Dynastic?

I analyse a variety of evidence for Japan and, where available, for the United States on bequest practices, the importance and nature of bequest motives, bequest division, the willingness of individuals to help others, etc., in order to shed light on which model of household behaviour applies in the two countries. My results suggest that the selfish lifecycle model is the dominant model of household behaviour in both countries but that it is far more applicable in Japan; that the dynasty model is also more applicable in Japan but is not of dominant importance even there; and, conversely, that the altruism model is far more applicable in the USA. JEL Classification Numbers: D12, D64, D91, E21.     

Pairs trading under transaction costs using model predictive control

Model predictive control with proportional transactions costs provides a good approximation to the optimal trading strategy     

Corporate Cash Holding in Asia

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of corporate saving in the form of changes in cash holdings for 11 Asian economies using firm‐level data from the Oriana Database for the 2002–2011 period. We find some evidence that cash flow has a positive impact on the change in cash holdings (i.e. that the cash flow sensitivity of cash is positive) and that the positive impact of cash flow on the change in cash holdings is larger and more significant in the case of smaller and presumably more constrained firms than in the case of larger and presumably less constrained firms in both developed and developing economies. Both of these findings corroborate the importance of financial constraints in Asian firms. In addition, we find that the cash flow sensitivity of cash declined after the global financial crisis and that Tobin's q has a positive impact on the change in cash holdings, especially in the case of larger and presumably unconstrained firms.     

Secure implementation in Shapley–Scarf housing markets

This paper considers the object allocation problem introduced by Shapley and Scarf (J Math Econ 1:23–37, 1974). We study secure implementation (Saijo et al. in Theor Econ 2:203–229, 2007), that is, double implementation in dominant strategy and Nash equilibria. We prove that (1) an individually rational solution is securely implementable if and only if it is the no-trade solution, (2) a neutral solution is securely implementable if and only if it is a serial dictatorship, and (3) an efficient solution is securely implementable if and only if it is a sequential dictatorship. Furthermore, we provide a complete characterization of securely implementable solutions in the two-agent case: a solution is securely implementable if and only if it is either a constant solution or a serial dictatorship.     

A cross-country comparison of interindustry linkages and the role of imported intermediate inputs

This paper compares the patterns of intermediate input use, the levels of overall and domestic industrial linkages, and the role of imported intermediate goods in production among nine countries and over time, based on input-output data. Evidence on distinct differences in overall interindustry linkages and import contents between Korea and Taiwan on the one hand and Turkey, Colombia, and Mexico on the other are presented. The differences are then related to the differences in export structure and in trade and industrial policies adopted in each country.     

The impact of e-commerce: It always benefits consumers, but may reduce social welfare

This paper investigates the impact of e-commerce on social welfare using a linear city model. Our model incorporates the diversity of consumers such that some can purchase the good via the Internet while others cannot. Our main result is as follows. The appearance of e-commerce enhances retail competition and always increases consumer surplus. However, total surplus does not necessarily improve. This is because the equilibrium market division between conventional stores and e-commerce is not socially optimal and efficiency loss of distribution accrues if the population of Internet shoppers is small and/or the cost of e-commerce is high. Our theoretical results indicate that the small e-commerce market share in the Japanese and US economies may result in welfare loss.     

国外铁路复兴浅析

19世纪铁路发展初期，受益于股份公司的财产组织形式和政府的扶持，铁路得到迅猛发展。随着铁路建设的迅猛发展，英、德、加、美、法等国铁路网相继形成，铁路成为最主要的运输方式，这些国家政府为调节铁路运输公司与货主、公众的利益，开始对铁路实行经济管制，特别是对运价实施控制。另一方面，在运输市场的激烈竞争中，各种运输方式受控程度差别悬殊，不必要的枷锁束缚是使铁路在竞争中处于不利地位的决定性因素。在第二次世界大战前后，资本主义发达国家为了摆脱危机，弥补市场功能缺陷，严格控制某些非竞争性企业和战略企业，掀起了企…     

UNDERSTANDING INNOVATION AS A COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEM: CASE STUDIES FROM SHIMADZU AND NEC

Abstract. This paper describes innovation from the viewpoint of biologic evolution, a complex adaptive system. First, three characteristics of complex adaptive systems – variation, interaction and selection – are explained. Second, we propose that variation in R&D activities is brought about by innovation seeds, which can be subdivided into reproduction and mutation types. Third, taking into account the concept of an innovation seed, we propose our innovation creation process model. Finally, our proposed concept is validated through case studies of (i) a mass analyser business by Shimadzu and (ii) a carbon nanotube business by NEC.