Welfare gain from quality and price development in the Japan’s LCD TV market

We estimate the welfare gain from innovations in the LCD TVs that prevailed during the period 2005–2007 in Japan, via consumer surplus that we measure with the aid of discrete choice methods, using market data obtained from an internet price comparison service (Kakaku.com). Further, by the measured implicit values of attributes, we evaluate in monetary terms, the qualitative transition embedded in the attributes through the iso-consumer surplus planes. We thereby disaggregate the welfare gain into the qualitative and the budgetary components, which we call the quality gain, and the budget gain, respectively. The estimates show, along with the evolved process of innovation, that the quality gain was in the order of 381 KJPY, while the budget gain was 94 KJPY negative, which gives about 287 KJPY of overall welfare gain per consumer, during the period.     

Did Japan's shopping coupon program increase spending?

In March 1999, 31 million “shopping coupons” worth 20,000 yen each were distributed to Japanese families with children and to the elderly. The coupons expired after six months and could only be used within the recipient's local community. We use variation in the number of children across families and in the number of recipients across prefectures to measure the effect of the coupons on spending. We find that coupons had a positive effect on spending on semi-durables, but no effect on spending on nondurables or services. The marginal propensity to consume on semi-durables was 0.1–0.2 when the coupons were distributed in March. The results using regional variation provide stronger evidence that spending did not fall after the coupons had been redeemed.     

Do TV-aided model lessons in class improve student performance? Evidence from public primary schools in Papua New Guinea

Lack of access to high-quality education remains a serious concern in many developing countries. This is especially the case for rural areas, including islands suffering from a shortage of skilled teachers and sufficient educational equipment. We examine the impact of introducing TV-aided model lessons in class to enhance the quality of teaching (the EQUITV project) on the national examination test scores of Mathematics and “Combined Subject” (a comprehensive subject comprising 30% science and 70% social studies and other topics) as well as English in the final year of primary education in Papua New Guinea. We employ a panel event study to capture the different timings of the intervention across schools over multiple time periods. We find that the project significantly and robustly improved test scores for girls only in English 3 years after the introduction of the project, but no improvement was seen for boys.     

Estimating the Markov-switching almost ideal demand systems: a Bayesian approach

Allias and Nichèle (Eur Rev Agric Econ, 34(4):517–538, 2007) proposed a Markov-switching almost ideal demand system (MS-AIDS) model by extending the idea of Hamilton (Econometrica, 57(2):357–384, 1989). In this paper, we propose a Bayesian estimation for MS-AIDS model and illustrate applicability of our proposed method. We then run two sets of simulation studies to confirm the validity of the proposed method. In the empirical study on the Japanese meat market, our Bayesian estimation improves the MSEs for all meat products over the ML estimation, while successfully capturing the regime shifts of meat demand coinciding with the timing of bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases in Japan and US.     

Behaviour theory and soft transport policy measures

The aim is to propose a theoretical grounding of soft transport policy measures that aim at promoting voluntary reduction of car use. A general conceptual framework is first presented to clarify how hard and soft transport policy measures impact on car-use reduction. Two different behavioural theories that have been used to account for car use and car-use reduction are then integrated in a self-regulation theory that identifies four stages of the process of voluntarily changing car use: setting a car-use reduction goal, forming a plan for achieving the goal, initiating and executing the plan, and evaluating the outcome of the plan execution. A number of techniques are described that facilitate the different stages of the process of voluntary car-use reduction and which should be used in personalized travel planning programs.     

ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSUMER LIFESTYLES – USING A JAPANESE ENVIRONMENTAL INPUT–OUTPUT TABLE AND THE LINEAR EXPENDITURE SYSTEM DEMAND FUNCTION

In this study, we undertake some hypothetical experiments and predict the environmental effects of some changes in consumer behavior, using the Japanese Input–Output Table and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey for 2000. We estimate the demand function in a linear expenditure system (LES) and attempt to determine how changes in consumer behavior affect the environmental load induced by household consumption, using the ‘willingness to pay’ concept. Furthermore, we define an index to show the eco-efficiency of consumer behavior. Through such a study, we can determine what action is appropriate for a ‘sustainable consumption’ society. If some change of consumer behavior greatly improved utility while increasing the environmental load, then technological progress to reduce the environmental load must be stimulated. However, if other changes in consumer behavior increase the environmental load while not improving utility very much, then such changes should be strongly discouraged.