Report on a new technological community: The making of a technopolis in an international context

In 1980 the Japanese government conceptualized technopolises. Nine technopolises are already in operation in 1984, and several more will follow. A technopolis is a healthy living environment with cultural amenities combined with high technology industries, away from the existing overcrowded industrial centers and adapted to local characteristics. This article focuses on the most advanced technopolis on the “Silicon Island” Kyushu, describes its process of development, and its future advantages and disadvantages compared to other technopolises.     

Valuation of Mortgage-Backed Securities Based upon a Structural Approach

This paper studies the valuation of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) based upon a structural approach of several risks involving the prepayment and/or default behavior of mortgagors. For the Kariya and Kobayashi (1999) model using a time-consuming Monte-Carlosimulation, we provide an alternative semi-analytic valuation methodology closely related to solving the (Volterra type) integral equation with respectto the first hitting time density for a curved/flat boundary; consequently that enables us to calculate the MBS price faster and more precisely. Next, to capture the path-dependent prepayment behavior of the interest ratemovements we give some prepayment models based upon a two-dimensional Markov process of the interest rate and its long-run average rate. Third, we study the simultaneous assessment issue of prepayment and defaultrisks, encountered in practice.Finally we discuss the calculation of the joint probability density ofmultiple first hitting times.     

Perception of authenticity of tourist art among Native American artists in Santa Fe,New Mexico

This study investigated the authenticity of tourist art from the perspectives of Native American artists in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In‐depth interviews with nine artists revealed that authenticity of art for the artists strongly relates to the traditional manufacturing process. Indeed, the artists alter their art piece's exterior to appeal to tourists while also adhering to the traditional process of manufacture. Rather than connoting a loss of authenticity, they identify the process as an “enlargement” of the culture. The challenge for the artists is to improve understanding of the significance of the manufacturing process among tourists and younger generations of artists. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the ‘persistence of profits’ persist?: a study of company profits in Japan, 1964–97

Earlier, in a time-series study of the profit rates of Japanese manufacturing firms, Odagiri and Yamawaki concluded that profits persist. With the addition of 15 more years of data up to 1997, this conclusion is shown to stand the test of time. In particular, those firms estimated to earn higher-than-average long-run profit rates in the early study were again estimated to earn higher-than-average long-run profit rates. The force of convergence was also found to be at work; for instance, the firms most profitable in Period 1 (1964–82) were most likely to face a decline in estimated long-run profit rates from Period 1 to Period 2 (1983–97). With the use of two sets of data, the firm’s profit performance was found to be positively related to measures of market share. First, among a smaller sample of firms for which reliable market share data could be matched, market share was estimated to have a significant positive effect on long-run profit rate in either period. Secondly, among the entire sample of 357 firms, the long-run profit rate in either period was estimated to be positively associated with firm sales relative to industry sales, which presumably is a crude measure of market share.     

Stereotypes and perceived solidarity in ethnic enclave tourism

This study considers how ethnic attitudes or stereotypes held by Japanese residents (as the majority ethnic group) of Brazilian residents (as the minority ethnic group) factor into the former’s perceived emotional solidarity with the latter. The aim of this work is to (1) initially assess the factor structure of the Ethnic Attitude Scale (EAS) and Emotional Solidarity Scale (ESS) and (2) to determine if underlying factors of the EAS serve to explain factors of the ESS. Following a multistage sampling scheme, 456 Japanese households within Oizumi completed an on-site, self-administered questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses of the EAS and ESS revealed consistent two- and three-factor structures with extant findings in the literature. Japanese residents tended to indicate they perceived Brazilian residents slightly favorably on items from each of the EAS factors (i.e. character and intelligence and social evaluation), while responding with ambivalence to items within the ESS factors (i.e. welcoming nature, emotional closeness, and sympathetic understanding). Structural paths (in five of six scenarios) revealed that EAS factors explained between 27% and 59% of the variance in the ESS factors. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed at the close of the paper.     

2002 LAWRENCE R. KLEIN LECTURE LIQUIDITY AND ASSET PRICES*

We broadly define liquid assets, or monetary assets, as any asset that can be readily sold in the market and can be held by a number of people in succession before maturity. We ask in what environment is the circulation of liquid assets essential for the smooth running of the economy. By developing a canonical model of a monetary economy (i.e., where the circulation of liquid assets is essential), we are able to examine the interaction between liquidity, asset prices, and aggregate economic activity.     

Overcoming the socialist aftereffects in East Europe

East Europe has inherited from the collapsed socialist systems a web of interlocking practices such as allocation mentality, bribery, dependism, and leveraged bonus, which will take many years to untangle before a free market system can effectively operate. Simplistic solutions will backfire. Reorganization must proceed with contextual knowledge of the interlocking patterns. A causal loop analysis is presented.     

Minimax estimators of a normal variance

In the estimation problem of unknown variance of a multivariate normal distribution, a new class of minimax estimators is obtained. It is noted that a sequence of estimators in our class converges to the Stein's truncated estimator. Received: March 1998     

A new logical model for futures research

The author argues against traditional logic based on unidirectional causality and classical physics because it has led planners and policy makers to believe that universality and homogeneity are desirable goals for society. Biological and social processes have been shown to thrive on complexity and heterogeneity and this approach to futures research should be developed further.     

Aesthetics and the environment in outer space,subterranean and underwater communities

Building future communities in outer space, under the ground and under the ocean surface will require careful environmental planning and design if the first generation of inhabitants are to transfer from earth surface living with minimum psychological disruption. Art can make an important contribution to a smooth transfer and to maintaining patterns of social interaction and philosophy that may otherwise suffer in a controlled environment.