Optimal age‐dependent income taxation in a dynamic extensive model: The case for negative participation tax on young people

We consider optimal age‐dependent income taxation in a dynamic model where the labor‐leisure choice is the extensive margin, each household faces idiosyncratic shocks to labor productivity and a pecuniary cost to work, and there is no insurance market against the shocks. We show that the well‐known property of the optimal participation tax rate in the static model continues to hold in our dynamic economy, that is, the participation tax rates for some income groups with low consumption are likely negative. In dynamic models, the optimal participation tax rate depends on age and on labor income. Our numerical simulations suggest that a negative participation tax should be restricted to young households.     

Mixed duopoly: Differential game approach

This study formulates a dynamic mixed oligopoly model, in which a state‐owned public firm competes against a private firm over multiple periods. We adopt a differential game formulated by Fershtman and Kamien [Econometrica 55 (1987), pp. 1151–1164] and investigate how the dynamic competition affects the optimal privatization policy. We characterize the open‐loop Nash equilibrium (OLNE) and Markov‐perfect Nash equilibrium (MPNE). We show that in the MPNE, an increase in the degree of privatization has a nonmonotonic effect on the price, increasing it in a wide range of parameter spaces, which is in sharp contrast to the result in the OLNE or static analyses. We also find that the optimal degree of privatization is higher in the MPNE than that in the OLNE and static equilibrium. These results suggest that intertemporal strategic behavior changes the optimal privatization policy.     

Market Size and Firm Location in a Service Industry

This paper investigates the welfare effects of firm location in a service industry. We consider the situation where firms determine their locations in either of two regions with a difference in market size. From the viewpoint of the consumers' welfare, there are too few firms in the large market and too many in the small market. However, from the viewpoint of the producers' and social welfare, the opposite is true. Further, an increase in the difference in market size is unambiguously unfavorable for the producers. On the other hand, such an increase is favorable for the consumers and the economy as a whole.     

COMMODITY CONTENT IN A GENERAL INPUT–OUTPUT MODEL

This technical paper provides a definition of ‘commodity content’ in extended von Neumann–Morishima models of production. Our definition admits as special cases the classical definition of ‘labour values’ in Leontief models, as well as Morishima's definition of ‘optimal values’ in a von Neumann model. Proper joint production, heterogeneous labour, durable consumption goods, household activities and disposal processes are all allowed for. We also propose a tentative mathematical criterion for defining bads and for distinguishing between unskilled and skilled labour.     

Technical Changes and the Rate of Profit in Models with Joint Production and Externalities: A Duality Approach

This paper generalizes a result due to Okishio: the rate of profit increases as a result of cost reducing technical changes. The generalization is carried out first in a model of joint production which allows for new processes and commodities to be introduced or some of the old ones to be discarded. Then we consider nonlinear models incorporating external and internal (dis)economies     

A multivariate analysis of work–life balance outcomes from a large‐scale telework programme

A multivariate analysis identified six predictors to explain positive work–life balance (WLB) among 1,566 teleworkers. Time flexibility variables were found to be most dominant. Gender or having dependent children was not significant. These results demonstrated that controlling working hours was the most important ability for sampled teleworkers to achieve positive WLB.     

日本的河川水权、用水顺序及水环境保护简述

简介日本的2种水权(许可水权和惯例水权)，日本的用水状况，日本农业用水的特点。在日本农村，用水顺序是生活优先，农业生产次之。简介日本农业用水存在的环境问题以及有助于解决这些问题的、规定流域管理与环境保护要相互协调的2部涉及水环境保护的法律修正案：《河川法》修正案和《土地改良法》修正案。     

Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Productivity in Japanese Manufacturing Firms

By using a large new enterprise-level data set, and evidence drawn from case studies, we show that Japanese employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) are a pervasive and neglected institution. In 1988, more than 90% of all firms listed on Japanese stock markets had an ESOP, and close to 50% of the labour force in firms with ESOPs participated in the plan. Micro data and a production function framework are used to examine the effects on business performance of ESOPs. On average, the net effect of introducing an ESOP is to increase productivity by almost 7%.