Capital Taxation, Tobin's q and Overlapping Generations

This study examines the effect of capital taxation on the long-term equilibrium in an intertemporal model, incorporating overlapping generations of the Blanchard–Weil type and value-maximizing firms with adjustment costs in investment. I demonstrate that an increase in capital taxation raises the steady-state expected lifetime utility of an agent born after the tax increase, provided the intergenerational redistribution effect achieved through lowering the rate of return is greater than that achieved through the tax revenue effect owing to the reduced capital–labour ratio, and that an increased ITC rate would not necessarily raise the steady-state lifetime utility of all agents.
JEL Classification Numbers: D91, D92, E62, H24, H25.     

Elderly labor supply and fertility decisions in aging-population economies

With a longer life expectancy, individuals who plan to work when they are old may increase the number of their children. Therefore, when individuals choose the time of retirement, the fertility rate may not necessarily decline but even rise.     

Wage Inequality and Human Capital Formation under Migration Possibilities

I examine the problem in the relationship between wage inequality and human capital formation under migration possibilities. Unlike previous analyses, I incorporate the education market and the education price into the analysis, and assume that workers bear the pecuniary cost for receiving education. Given such an assumption, migration possibilities do not necessarily increase education demand since the larger demand for education raises the education price and lowers the net return on education. By modelling an economy where workers in the home country (the labour‐sending country) comprise skilled and unskilled workers and they can migrate to the foreign country (the labour‐receiving country), I show that brain gain and brain drain occur simultaneously in the home country. In particular, if wage inequality is larger in the foreign country than in the home country, skilled workers experience brain gain and unskilled workers experience brain drain in the home country. On the other hand, if wage inequality is sufficiently larger in the home country, brain drain occurs in skilled workers and brain gain in unskilled workers.     

Incentive efficient risk sharing in a settlement mechanism

The purpose of this paper is to address a question concerning risk management in continuing, multi-party, contractual, clearing and settlement arrangements through which large-value payments are typically made. We are particularly interested in the issues of incentive compatibility when a third party possesses a private information concerning the riskiness of transfers being made. If a third party possesses private information that would be of value in determining how best to settle a payment, how does the exposure of that party to the settlement risk affect the quality of information that the party chooses to provide? In this paper, we address this question by analyzing a specific class of parametric environments of a schematic, formal, model of a settlement arrangement or a payment network.     

Which countries show favour towards negative,zero or positive population growth?

This article develops an overlapping generations model with eldercare by migrants and children in the context of the ageing problem and examines what conditions cause people to prefer a negative, zero or positive population growth rate. We find that a wage ratio of around 0.7 for eldercare by migrants can explain well the coexistence of negative, zero and positive population growth rates in the European Union. A country that does not need eldercare and has an optimistic view of the future will have a positive population growth rate. Other countries will have zero or negative population growth rates.     

DOES DEFLATION IMPINGE ON A GOVERNMENT'S FISCAL STANDING?

This paper uses a dynamic general equilibrium model with money to investigate theoretically under what conditions deflation impinges on a government's fiscal standing. Focus is placed on an upper bound that is compatible with a no Ponzie game condition for the government and an equilibrium. A comparative dynamics analysis demonstrates that if a government's fiscal deficit is not so high, deflation has a negative impact on the upper bound, while if a government's fiscal deficit exceeds a critical level, deflation rather improves it. The critical level depends on a time stream of disposable real incomes and a preference parameter.     

Agricultural Productivity Growth and Household Food Security Improvement in Nepal

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Using the panel data of the Nepal Living Standard Measurement Survey (NLSS), the poverty rate in 1995–96 was estimated to be about 40%, while in 2003–04 it was estimated at roughly 30%. Political instability has prevented the development of industry and threatened the food security of poor people, but scholarship on the factors contributing to food security is incomplete; while the determinants of food security have been mentioned in past research, prior studies have analyzed cross‐sectional data and thus could not have omitted heterogeneity bias. This paper analyzes the change in agricultural productivity in real terms and the impact on household food security by using the panel data of NLSS in 1995–96 and 2003–04. This analysis reveals that growth is observed in real agricultural productivity in spite of land segmentation; the growth in agricultural productivity in real terms has a positive impact on household food security; and the lower a farmer's income becomes, the more positive its impact on food security. Therefore, advancements in agricultural productivity play a critical role in promoting food security at the individual and household levels.     

Technology policy in Japan: A short review

This paper examines technology policy in Japan. Following a brief introduction, we review trends in Japanese technology policy: in the 1950's and through to the mid-1960's, the main policy concern was to facilitate the importation of technology. However, in the mid-1960's, the emphasis had shifted to promote domestic R & D, and various policy measures like tax breaks, subsidies and research contracts were employed to encourage R & D in private firms. In the 1970's, public policy became more selective, and R & D on pollution control, energy, space and ocean resources was encouraged. Currently, the policy discussion is centered around the problem of how to enhance Japan's technology base in basic technologies in order to promote a shift to high-technology production. The third section examines the various policy measures in detail; preferential tax treatment, subsidies, research contracts, low interest loans, public research institutions, public corporations, and research associations. It is argued that Japanese technology policy worked alongside market forces rather than replacing them with the political process. This approach was successful in the sense that it contributed to the promotion of technological progress and a high rate of economic growth. However, as the promotion of basic research becomes more important, a new approach must be devised. The brief concluding comments discuss current and future problems to be addressed by technology policy in Japan.