Consumption,income, and wealth inequality in Canada

In this paper, we document some features of the distribution of income, consumption and wealth in Canada using survey data from many different sources. We find that wage and income inequality have increased substantially over the last 30 years, but that much of this rise was offset by the tax and transfer system. As a result, the rise in consumption inequality has been relatively mild. We also document that wealth inequality has remained fairly stable since 1999. Using both confidential data and publicly available data, we are able to gauge the extent to which the publicly available data conceals aspects of inequality that confidential data reveals.     

Earthquake risk and housing prices in Japan: Evidence before and after massive earthquakes

The hedonic pricing approach is used to examine whether homeowners and/or renters alter their subjective assessments of earthquake risks after massive earthquakes. Using nation-wide household panel data coupled with earthquake hazard information and records of observed earthquakes, we find that there are some modifications of individuals' assessments of earthquake risk in both cases. We have carefully taken into consideration the bias stemming from the use of objective risk variables as a proxy for individual risk assessments. Our results suggest that the price discount from locating within a quake-prone area is significantly larger soon after earthquake events than beforehand. We argue that the most likely interpretation for this result is that households tend to underestimate earthquake risk if there has not been a recent occurrence.     

Reorientation of the Time-series Analyses for Macroeconomics

In empirical studies of macroeconomic theories, close attention should be paid to the relationships between the deterministic trends of different variables, especially when economic relations are investigated in the context of economic growth. The paper explains in an expository manner what kind of research can be undertaken to examine the reality of macroeconomic theories in terms of deterministic trends. Japanese postwar quarterly data of money, price, income and Solow's residuals are analysed to study the reality of the neutrality hypothesis regarding money.
JEL Classification Numbers: C32, N10