Schumpeterian patterns of innovation and the sources of breakthrough inventions: evidence from a data-set of R&D awards

This paper examines the relationship between Schumpeterian patterns of innovation and the generation of breakthrough inventions. Our data source for breakthrough inventions is the “R&D 100 awards” competition organized each year by the magazine Research & Development. Since 1963, this magazine has been awarding this prize to 100 most technologically significant new products available for sale or licensing in the year preceding the judgment. We use USPTO patent data to measure the relevant dimensions of the technological regime prevailing in each sector and, on this basis, we provide a characterization of each sector in terms of the Schumpeter Mark I/Schumpeter Mark II archetypes. Our main finding is that breakthrough inventions are more likely to emerge in ‘turbulent’ Schumpeter Mark I type of contexts.     

Effects of Anticipated Fiscal Policy Shock on Macroeconomic Dynamics in Japan

This study investigates the effects of fiscal policy on macroeconomic dynamics in Japan with a particular focus on the effects of anticipated fiscal policy shock and the recent policies of Abenomics. We identify anticipated fiscal policy shock by combining excess stock returns for the construction industry and the vector autoregressive model with robust sign restrictions derived from a theoretical model. The primary result is that GDP and consumption respond positively to anticipated fiscal policy shock. In addition, the result of the historical decomposition that focuses on the period of Abenomics reveals that anticipated fiscal policy shock positively contributes to consumption dynamics.     

Effective Rental Housing Demand in the Tokyo Metropolitan Region

This paper reports on the estimation of housing demand for tenants in Tokyo Metropolitan Region using household level data for 1993. The results indicate that the rental housing demand is inelastic with respect to permanent income and price, with coefficients as 0.31 and -0.093 respectively. Other important variables, which determine housing demand for tenants are length of stay and type of household. Larger households demand more housing. However, keeping the size of household constant, households with elderly members have higher demand for housing. The only exception to the rule is households formed with members not belonging to same nucleus family demand less housing.     

Development of educational program for production manager leading new perspectives on manufacturing technology

In this paper, we consider the problems associated with the development and management of an educational program for manufacturing managers in leadership roles who are making contributions towards the creation of customer delight as well as customer satisfaction using manufacturing technology. The basic concept combines an intelligent knowledge-based approach with the kaizen activity program within the framework of value creation and comparative advantage models based on a network referred to as Academia, Business, Consultancy, and Government (ABC-G). This educational program, which reflects the characteristics of manufacturing technologies and practices in the Hokuriku District of Japan, was developed in 2005–2006 and the trial education was developed in 2005 and 2006, and a trial run of this program was conducted in 2006 and 2007 in close collaboration with local manufacturing companies and their employees. The results are informative of the effects of educating manufacturing managers in Japan and the problems that will have to be overcome for the continuous improvement of the program.     

Econometric analysis of price index for home video cassette recorders in the U.S., 1978-1987

This paper conducts an empirical analysis on the U.S. VCR market using a hedonic approach. The paper finds that quality-adjusted price indices decline at 11-12% per year, with a large annual drop of about 18% from 1982-85. Estimation and data analysis reveal interesting aspects of the evolution of quality and price in the VCR market. As a result of the exclusion of the VCR category until 1986, the paper estimates a bias of 2.4% per year in the CPI electronics subindex.     

Bank diversification and monetary policy

Using bank-level data in Asia, we examine the relationship between the effectiveness of monetary policy and the business diversification of banks. We find that bank diversification enhances the effect of monetary policy.     

Mass media effects on trading activities: television broadcasting evidence from Japan

This study examines how information broadcasting through television (TV) media influences stock market activities. Consistent with the effect of TV information to attract investor attention, we find that increased information flow through TV is significantly associated with greater trading volume and larger price change. For information type, hard news from business-oriented programmes and earnings-related news strongly contributes to the attention effect, while the effect of soft news is weaker. Bid–ask spread widens for more TV information flows, suggesting that new information arrival in the market expands information asymmetry. Finally, the impact of TV is more influential for stocks with more individual shareholders than those with institutional shareholders.     

市场化进程中社会资本还能够充当保险机制吗?——中国农村家庭灾后消费的经验研究

本文研究了在中国农村的市场化过程中,社会资本为遭受自然灾害的家庭的消费平滑提供保险的作用。我们基于2002年中国家庭收入调查(CHIPS)的农村数据进行经验研究,结果显示,互助、公民参与及信任这三种社会资本并没能帮助中国农村家庭抵御自然灾害对于消费的冲击。我们的发现并不依赖于同村家庭遭受自然灾害的同质性程度。我们进一步找到证据表明:社会资本在帮助农户分担风险和平滑消费上的作用随着市场化的深入而减弱。