Proposing effective strategies for meeting an environmental regulation with attainable technology improvement targets

The Japanese government will adopt the CAFE standard after 2020. By using a “modified” slacks-based measure (SBM) model, this study analyzed the technical efficiency of 113 gasoline vehicle models (GVs) and 54 hybrid vehicle models (HVs) sold by Japanese manufacturers in 2016. We also estimated attainable fuel efficiency of specific vehicle models that can be further improved referring to the nearest point on the best practice frontier. The improved CAFE values and standards of the nine automobile manufacturers were calculated. The technology gap from the vehicle technology frontier was more noticeable among gasoline vehicles than among hybrids. Moreover, most automobile manufacturers can achieve the CAFE standard through an effective achievement strategy based on best practice technologies, whereas the others will not achieve the CAFE standard even given a rapid technology innovation beyond the best practice frontiers for GVs and HVs.     

Coalition-proof information exchanges

In a three-firm oligopoly model we show that, in addition to being a simple Nash equilibrium, information sharing among all firms is sometimes coalition-proof, and, information exchange among a proper subset of the firms can constitute a coalition-proof equilibrium. Thus, information exchange among firms, even without collusion on prices or outputs, can be very stable and may occur more widely than previously expected.     

Oligopoly Information Exchange when Non-negative Price and Output Constraints may Bind

The oligopoly information exchange literature has consistently employed linear demand functions. This paper explores whether earlier results are sensitive to the assumption of linear demand. Non-linearity arises naturally from the condition that prices and outputs be non-negative. We show standard results on information sharing can be reversed when there is the chance that non-negativity constraints bind: in a homogeneous-goods Cournot duopoly with constant marginal costs, information sharing can be profitable and it can reduce social welfare.     

战后日本的环境公害及其历史教训

二战后的日本环境污染事件频发,而中央政府反应迟缓,导致环境公害扩大,因此出现了"革新自治体"这种领先于国家的地方环境治理行动,又相继发生了一系列的环境公益诉讼。日本治理环境的对策中对硫氧化物进行"总量控制"是其较为成功的地方,其"原料和燃料低硫化"和"排烟脱硫"方案是较为失败的地方。主要经验是"促进能源节约和向污染低的产业结构转型"。但日本的东京湾水质至今仍存在较严重的污染问题,行政分割是其症结,因此,必须进行环境政策整合,才能达到"相互合作"共同协作治理的境界。     

Distributional assumptions in the theory of oligopoly information exchange

We analyze the profitability of information sharing among Cournot oligopolists receiving private information about random demand. In this setting, previous authors showed information exchange to be unprofitable when firms' marginal costs are constant and outputs are perfect substitutes. We introduce a measure of the increase in the accuracy of firms' demand forecasts when information is shared. We provide two examples showing when this measure is large, information exchange is profitable, even though firms' marginal costs are constant and outputs are perfect substitutes. Moreover, we show that in the linear-conditional-expectations framework, which has been standard in the literature, this measure reveals these accuracy gains to be severely limited.     

International Duopoly, Tariff Policy and the Superiority of Free Trade

This paper addresses the effectiveness of tariff policy in the long-run production framework in which decisions must be made about plant size and the level of output to be produced by foreign duopolists competing with each other in the importing country's market. We consider two types of tariff regime, discriminatory and uniform, and show that the importing country's welfare is unambiguously higher in the uniform tariff case. We consider free trade in the same production framework and show that, as the long-run capacity decision becomes increasingly relevant relative to the short-run quantity decision, free trade dominates tariffs in welfare rankings.
JEL Classification Number: F1.     

Distributional assumptions in the theory of oligopoly information exchange

We analyze the profitability of information sharing among Cournot oligopolists receiving private information about random demand. In this setting, previous authors showed information exchange to be unprofitable when firms' marginal costs are constant and outputs are perfect substitutes. We introduce a measure of the increase in the accuracy of firms' demand forecasts when information is shared. We provide two examples showing when this measure is large, information exchange is profitable, even though firms' marginal costs are constant and outputs are perfect substitutes. Moreover, we show that in the linear-conditional-expectations framework, which has been standard in the literature, this measure reveals these accuracy gains to be severely limited.     

An International Comparison of Leontief Input-Output Coefficients and its Application to Structural Growth Patterns

Empirical sectoral analyses of a standard development pattern have focused upon changes in the value added, disregarding the structural changes in intermediate input. In a more comprehensive approach to the production function, the present paper analyses both sectoral intermediate inputs and the value added by using 45 input-output tables to discover a standard pattern of the changes in the input-output coefficients as an economy develops. The major findings are first a U-shape pattern of the average value added ratio and, conversely, an inverse U-shape pattern of the average intermediate input ratio. Secondly, as compared with principal input coefficients that are broadly stable, supplementary input coefficients exhibit the non-linear trends of an inverse U shape contributed by a rising trend in agriculture in the early stages, and a growing energy cost in most sectors, although this is partly offset by mild U shapes of transport and distribution costs. A similar inverse U-shape pattern is implied for the Leontief multiplier.