Banking crisis and productivity of borrowing firms: Evidence from Japan

We investigate the effects of bank distress on the productivity of borrowing firms by using data on listed companies in the Japanese manufacturing industry during the 1990s. We find that deterioration in the financial health of banks, which is measured by a decline in the capital-asset ratio, decreased the productivity of their borrowers during the period of the severe financial crisis (FY1997–1998). Our finding empirically confirms the theoretical view that an increase in financial friction negatively affects the productivity of the corporate sector.     

Nontraded goods and optimal foreign investments

The main purpose of the present paper is to discuss the optimal tax policy towards capital movements in the case where nontraded goods exist. We show that, in the case of generic capital, the instability of nontraded goods market in the passive country makes it optimal to subsidize the income from international investments. Furthermore, we show that complete specialization of the passive country invokes the orthodox tax policy of Kemp (1962, 1964, chs. 13 and 14), whether capital is generic or sector-specific.     

POPULATION AGING AND CONSUMPTION INEQUALITY IN JAPAN

This paper analyses how consumption inequality within a fixed cohort grows with age using Japanese household microdata. Following the method developed by Deaton and Paxson (1994), we obtain the following results. First, consumption inequality starts to increase at the age of 40. Second, younger generations face a more unequal distribution from the beginning of their life-cycle. Third, half of the rapid increase in the economy-wide consumption inequality during the 1980s was caused by population aging, while one-third was due to the increasing cohort effect. The paper compares the above results with those of Deaton and Paxson.     

The relationship between supervisor and workers — The case of professional baseball in Japan

This paper analyzes the relationship between the workers' productivity and the supervisor from the point of view of the Matching Hypothesis using data from professional baseball in Japan. The main findings of this paper are the following three points. The first point is that the Matching Hypothesis is rejected in the case of pitchers and hitters. The second one is that the depreciation rate of the effect is about 10–15% per year and differs from zero significantly. Hence, the effect continues for a long time after the matching is broken. Lastly, we cannot find a learning curve for the managers' ability.     

MOT in transition: From technology fusion to technology-service convergence

In the technical revolutions such as “mechatronics” and “optoelectronics,” the concept of technology fusion, fusion among different kinds of technologies, had been critical in the management of technology. In this type of management, the joint research among different industries was the most important element.     

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”.     

HOW DO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN JAPAN COMPETE FOR REGULAR,FULL‐TIME JOBS? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS BASED UPON AN INTERNET SURVEY OF THE YOUTH*

We use a survey of Japanese youth within 10 years after high school graduation to investigate impacts of academic and social skills on their success in the job market. We find three major factors account for the job market outcome immediately after school: school characteristics and job‐placement services, academic performance, and social skills, including negative impacts of problematic behaviors at school. Second, when we run a probit regression on whether or not the surveyed individuals hold regular, full‐time jobs, we find the persistent but declining (over age) impact of the job placement immediately after school. Moreover, we find that the impact of variables pertaining to social skills remain significant even after controlling for the job‐placement outcome after school, whereas other variables, such as grade point average or attributes of high schools, are largely irrelevant to the current employment status.     

Computing equilibrium bond prices in the Vayanos-Vila model

We develop tools for computing equilibrium bond prices for the discrete-time version of the Vayanos–Vila (2009) model. With the maturity structure included in pricing factors, factor loadings for equilibrium bond yields depends critically on parameters describing maturity structure dynamics and other model parameters. An illustrative example shows that the effect on the yield curve of a supply shock originating in a given maturity, although hump-shaped around the originating maturity, is to change yields broadly across all maturities.     

MR imaging of traumatic hepatic laceration: Evaluation and course of healing after surgery

Six patients with hepatic laceration underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 0.5T. Acute hepatic laceration was slightly hypointense on T1-weighted spin-echo (SE) image, and hyperintense on T2- and proton-weighted SE images. Subacute laceration was heterogeneously intense on T1-weighted image and hyperintense on T2- and proton-weighted images. Consistent changes in signal intensity of postoperative hepatic laceration were observed. On Tl-weighted image, the signal intensity at first increased and then decreased from periphery to the center. On the T2- and proton-weighted images, the laceration was uniformly hyperintense relative to the liver prior to the appearance and growth of a hypointense ring at its periphery. The appearance of the above changes in signal intensity was also observed in postoperative recurrent hemorrhage. The postoperative biloma had none of the above changes in signal intensity. Our cases show that MRI is effective in the evaluation of hepatic laceration and in the assessment of the course of healing after operation.