Public capital and patterns of growth in the presence of threshold externalities

This paper studies the relation between public capital accumulation and long-run economic growth. We emphasize three phenomena that may be accompanied by the presence of public capital: increasing returns, rivalry, and threshold externalities. We formulate a simple growth model that captures these features of public capital in a tractable manner. Assuming that investment for public capital financed by income taxation, we show that the threshold externalities may generate multiple equilibria, so that the pattern of growth and the realization of a specific steady-growth equilibrium are quite sensitive to the rate of income tax as well as to expectations of agents.     

Patent Policy in an Endogenous Growth Model

We investigate how the patent policy affects economic growth and social welfare based on an endogenous growth model with R&D activities. We show that the patent length that maximizes the social welfare is finite. Moreover, by introducing compulsory licensing, we also show that the patent length that maximizes the social welfare is not infinite even if the royalty rate can be controlled. Received June 29, 2001; revised version received February 5, 2002 Published online: February 17, 2003 We wish to thank two anonymous referees for their constructive comments. We also thank Akira Yakita for his helpful comments.     

Issues on Japan's Intellectual Product

Evidence suggests that Japan's basic research levels seem to lag behind that of the USA. This paper seeks to investigate (1) the reasons for this difference in the context of societal impact on the creation of intellectual products, (2) the influence of the different legal systems as they relate to the treatment of intellectual products, and (3) the aspect of market size as an essential factor in the creation of intellectual products protected by copyright. This last category includes intellectual products such as visual products, publications, music, and computer software. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Portfolio Insurance with Liquidity Risk

This paper studies a portfolio insurance problem with liquidity risk. We consider an investor who wants to maximize the expected growth rate of wealth in a low liquid market. The investor can trade assets only at random times and his wealth must not fall below a predetermined floor. We find the optimal expected growth rate and an optimal strategy. The optimal strategy is closely related with a traditional constant proportion portfolio insurance strategy. Also we show that the same strategy maximizes the growth rate almost surely. Further we study the floor effect on the growth rate.     

Business process semi-automation based on business model management

It is important to respond to customers' requirements more rapidly than ever before due to the recent trend in e-business and its technologies. In order to achieve an agile response, we have to manage business models, to reflect the changes in the models and to develop or modify IT systems for further chances. This paper proposes a management framework of layered enterprise models. The proposed framework consists of a business model repository and a software repository, and defines three different grain sizes of modeling layers, namely business modeling, business process modeling and business application modeling, in order to support business modeling and application development. This framework helps us to develop business application in incremental deployment of analysis, design, and implementation to execute business processes. We have implemented a prototype environment using Java. Each repository's contents are described using XML so that the repositories are interoperable. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Regulation and Development by Jean‐Jacques Laffont, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, xxiii + 268 pp. The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion and Jonathan Morduch, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2005, xiv + 346 pp. Asian States: Beyond the Developmental Perspective edited by Richard Boyd and Tak‐Wing Ngo, London, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005, xv + 224 pp. Growth, Structural Change and Regional Inequality in Malaysia by Asan Ali Golam Hassan, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2004, xiv + 245 pp. The Monetary Geography of Africa by Paul R. Masson and Catherine Pattillo, Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press, 2005, xx + 217 pp.     

The Choice Between Flexible Exchange Rates, Capital Control and the Currency Board in Asian Countries: A Perspective from the "Impossible Trinity"

We attempt to compare adjustment costs under exchange rate regimes in East Asian economies during their recovery processes. The criteria are the degree of overshooting in exchange rates, the changes in country risks, and the severity and duration of the recovery processes. Linear ranking is difficult. Managed rates with capital control worked for macroeconomic performance despite the welfare loss due to blocking capital flows. The currency board system worked well for stability, but recent experiences of Argentina and Hong Kong were deflationary. Under flexible rates, many economies that received IMF grants suffered a drastic initial downturn but later recovered vigorously. JEL Classification Numbers: F31, F32, F33.