Stakeholder pressures,EMS implementation,and green innovation in MNC overseas subsidiaries

In this paper, we address the issue of green innovation by the overseas subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing upon stakeholder theory and institutional theory, we propose a conceptual model to explain how stakeholder pressures in host countries prompt MNC subsidiaries to undertake green product and process innovations. Our findings indicate that MNC subsidiaries need to meet market stakeholders’ pressures in order to achieve social legitimacy in host countries, and that the implementation of formal environmental management systems (EMS) is an important mechanism translating these pressures into green innovation initiatives. Furthermore, we find that the positive relationship between market stakeholder pressures and EMS implementation is reinforced by global ‘green’ institutional pressures in the different host countries.     

Social Relations and Endogenous Culture

The current state of economics as a science is critically evaluated in view of its lack of emphasis on sociological and psychological factors. In particular, I argue that humans are embedded in social structures and that they choose actions taking account of the social contexts in which they live and the social interactions to which they belong. Preferences then should be considered not as exogenously given but as endogenously evolved, allowing for bounded rationality and psychological factors. I provide a brief sketch of the possible model formulation for a more desirable theory, invoking network theory and an indirect evolutionary approach. JEL classification numbers: A12, A13, B40.     

Corporate Governance Structure and Employment Adjustment in Japan: An Empirical Analysis Using Corporate Finance Data

I investigate the influence of corporate governance structures on employment adjustment in Japanese firms, using financial data for firms listed on the Japanese stock market. The results indicate that corporate governance structures affect the rate of employment adjustment. The presence of large stockholders and the degree of stock cross–holding lengthens the period the firm remains in debt and slows down the speed of employment adjustment.     

Pricing Exotic Options and American Options: A Multidimensional Asymptotic Expansion Approach

This paper introduces a new method for pricing exotic options whose payoff functions depend on several stochastic indices and American options in multidimensional models. This method is based on two ideas. One is an application of the asymptotic expansion method for the law of a multidimensional diffusion process. The other is the combination of the asymptotic expansion method and the method called backward induction. The author applies the method to the problems of pricing call options on the maximum of two assets in the CEV model, average strike options in the Black–Scholes model and American options in the Heston model. Numerical examples show practical effectiveness of the proposed method.     

日本经济高速增长的政策软实力

战后长期的高速增长奠定了日本强大的经济硬实力地位难以动摇,而这种地位的获得主要源自于日本的经济政策。产业政策是日本战后促进经济恢复最重要的政策,也是实现经济高速增长最成功的政策;兴建基础设施的政策扩大了日本国内市场,保证了经济高速增长的后劲和长期化;高速增长计划和目标,对于引导和指导日本经济发展发挥了重要的作用;高投资和高出口政策,加快了经济的发展速度;金融财政政策则成为高速增长的保障。这些政策产生力量效果,实现了经济高速增长,人民生活水平快速提高,提升了日本经济的国际竞争力,创造了经济高速增长模式。政策软实力发挥的原因包括,政府引导,政策相互配合,切合实际,长期坚持,目标单一等因素。     

Voluntarily separable repeated Prisonerʼs Dilemma with reference letters

We consider the voluntarily separable repeated Prisoner?s Dilemma model in which players randomly meet and form pairs to repeatedly play Prisoner?s Dilemma only by mutual agreement. While the literature has dealt with the case of no information flow across partnerships, we consider the case in which players can issue a “reference letter” to verify at least that the partnership entered the cooperation phase. We show that such reference letters can be voluntarily provided by the partners even at some cost, and that the sheer existence of a letter shortens the trust-building periods and thus improves social efficiency.     

TOWARD A REGIONAL EXCHANGE RATE REGIME IN EAST ASIA

Abstract.  Deepening market-driven economic integration in East Asia makes intraregional exchange rate across the region increasingly desirable and necessary. The paper suggests that East Asia's emerging economies begin to choose a currency basket as a monetary policy anchor to enable all East Asian currencies to collectively appreciate vis-à-vis the US dollar, while maintaining intraregional rate stability, in the event of surges of capital inflows or a rapid unwinding of global payments imbalances. Following this initial step, East Asia may agree on more rigid intraregional exchange rate stabilization schemes through, for example, an Asian Snake or an Asian Exchange Rate Mechanism.     

China–Japan–United States integration amid global rebalancing: A computable general equilibrium analysis

Using a global general equilibrium trade model, this paper assesses the long-term implications of global rebalancing for Asian economies and explores the benefits of China–Japan–United States (US) integration. The analysis suggests that consumption evaporation, a growth slowdown in the US, and the consequent current account correction would force China, Japan, and other East Asian economies to undergo substantial structural adjustments. A combination of domestic reform aimed at boosting service sector productivity and external liberalization aimed at fostering broader economic integration will be critical for East Asian economies to facilitate their economic rebalancing and sustained growth. Our global computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis suggests that China and Japan need to strengthen their economic ties with the US while at the same time bringing other East Asian economies into this integration process.