Appraising Unhappiness in the Wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Considering the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake, we use the experienced‐utility approach to appraise the psychological distress from disaster‐related news. We take advantage of the serendipitous timing of our original nationwide weekly panel survey that became a fitting resource for the investigation of subjective well‐being in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. Although all of Japanese society was affected, we found geographical heterogeneity between the affected areas (Sendai and Tokyo) and the unaffected areas in terms of mental costs. Our finding reminds us of the focusing effect (Kahneman et al., 2006 ; Dolan and Kahneman, 2008 ) as captured by Schkade and Kahneman ( 1998 ) in the maxim “Nothing in life is quite as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it”.     

Effect of Historical Educational Level on Perceived Inequality,Preference for Redistribution and Progressive Taxation

This paper investigated the extent to which educational levels in the nineteenth century have shaped present-day norms, which influence the perceptions of present-day individuals, such as individuals’ perceived inequality, preference for redistribution, and progressive taxation. Cross-country, individual-level data were used to examine historical educational level and present-day perceptions of social and political issues. After controlling for various country-level and individual characteristics, the major findings were as follows: people in countries with higher educational levels in 1870 are less likely to support redistribution policies and progressive taxation. Moreover, people in countries with higher educational levels in 1870 are more likely to consider income inequality to be smaller.     

Transparency and Views Regarding Nuclear Energy Before and After the Fukushima Accident: Evidence on Micro‐Data

This paper examines the influence of government transparency on changing views regarding nuclear energy before and after Japan's natural and nuclear disaster of 2011. Individual‐level data were used, covering 45 countries and containing 27 423 observations. It was observed in the majority of countries that the rate of favouring nuclear energy declined after the disaster. However, empirical results show that such a tendency is less likely to be observed in a more transparent country. This implies that views regarding nuclear energy were less elastic to the news of the Fukushima incident when people were more certain about nuclear energy prior to the Fukushima incident.     

An Analysis of Sorting and Recycling of Household Waste: A neo‐Ricardian Approach

One of the most interesting but troublesome features of daily recycling is the mixture of different types of household waste and degradation of a recycled material caused by the mixture of different types of waste. This is often seen in recycling of materials such as used papers, plastics and so on. This paper analyses this aspect, and demonstrates how the formation of prices and activity levels is made in a long‐run growing economy, by means of a neo‐Ricardian type of production model. It is proved that a long‐run equilibrium exists under reasonable assumptions. It is also shown how the sorting rate of different types of waste affects the grade of recyclable resources as well as prices.     

The effects of the social norm on cigarette consumption: Evidence from Japan using panel data

Using Japan's prefecture-level panel data from 1989 to 2001, this paper examines the influence of the social norm on a person's smoking behavior when the complementary relationship between smoking and drinking is taken into account. The key findings through a dynamic panel model controlling for unobserved prefecture-specific fixed effects are as follows: (1) influence from others is stronger when people live more closely and cohesively. A tightly knit society results in a reduction of smoking through smoking-related interaction. (2) Smoking and drinking have a complementary relationship: greater initial consumption of alcohol results in larger consumption of cigarettes. (3) The complementary relationship between smoking and drinking is attenuated if the cost of committing the annoying conduct (i.e., smoking) is high.Overall, this empirical study provides evidence that the psychological effect of the presence of surrounding people has a direct significant effect upon smoking behavior and, furthermore, that it attenuates the complementary relationship between smoking and drinking, thereby reducing cigarette consumption. These results indicate that not only formal rules but also tacitly formed informal norms are effective deterrents to smoking.     

Who benefits more from higher household consumption? The intra-household allocation of nutrients in China

Previous studies find that human capital investments in boys are less income elastic than investments in girls, attributing this result to favoritism toward boys. I show theoretically that it is plausible for more productive or favored household members to have higher income elasticities. I then investigate this question empirically, utilizing panel data on individual nutrient intake from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) to analyze how changes in household per-capita nutrient intake affect the intra-household allocation of nutrients. To deal with potential biases due to omitted variables and simultaneity, I use measures of rainfall variation as instruments. I find that nutritional intakes are more elastic for males (especially prime-age men) than for females, and significantly less elastic for the elderly.     

Current accounts of Japanese airports

The paper examines the current account of 41 major airports. When we exclude depreciation costs, only seven airports are profitable. When depreciation is excluded, only three airports are making profits. Airports managed by local governments are very difficult to sustain financially without subsidies. Airports with more than 5.2 million passengers are profitable when depreciation is taken into account, however most local airports have fewer than 2.5 million passengers. When depreciation costs are excluded, airports need at least 2.7 million passengers to be viable.     

Trade policy preference,childhood sporting experience,and informal school curriculum: An examination of views of the TPP from the viewpoint of behavioral economics

We investigated how childhood education and experiences helped to form noncognitive skills and later, trade policy preferences. We used individual‐level data with approximately 10,000 observations collected in July 2016. Using the instrumental variables (IV) method, with sporting experience and informal education in the childhood as exogenous IV, we found that (1) sporting experiences and informal education lead people to have positive subjective views about the role of group work, competition, reciprocity, and generalized trust and (2) positive views about the role of group work, competition, reciprocity, and trust leads people to prefer the Trans‐Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP).     

Policy trade-off in the long run: A new Keynesian model with technological change and money growth

In this study, we introduce a constant rate of technological change and money growth into the standard new Keynesian model, in which both prices and nominal wages are supposed to be sticky. Using such a model, we examine whether a policy trade-off exists between curbing inflation and stabilizing the welfare-relevant output gap in the steady state. If we take only price stickiness into consideration, a policy trade-off does not occur. However, if both nominal wage stickiness and price stickiness are taken into consideration, a policy trade-off occurs.     

Mainland Chinese Canadian Immigrants' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being: Results of a Two-Year Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine whether recent Chinese Canadian immigrants' (a) leisure satisfaction, happiness, and life satisfaction changed over a two-year period and (b) if leisure satisfaction affected their subjective well-being (SWB) over this same period. Participants completed an initial, trilingual telephone questionnaire (N = 220) and then were recontacted every six months for two years. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that leisure satisfaction decreased over the two-year period, likely because of “leisure shock,” employment of a “withdrawn” strategy, or both. The results also showed that leisure satisfaction significantly and positively affected happiness and life satisfaction. Study limitations are identified, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research recommendations are outlined.