Public investment criteria under optimal nonlinear income taxation without commitment

In this study, we highlight that the incredibility of the government's commitment to a certain tax policy is a determinant of production inefficiency. We show that if the government cannot commit to a certain tax policy and if the types of taxpayers are completely separated, then the production efficiency theorem could be violated in an optimal solution. In this case, an incremental unit of public or private capital affects taxpayers' labor supply through wage rates. In a situation where public capital is more (less) complementary to labor than private capital, public investment tightens (relaxes) the incentive compatibility constraint more than private investment.     

DO DEPOSITORS RESPOND RATIONALLY TO BANK RISKS? EVIDENCE FROM JAPANESE BANKS DURING CRISES

This paper empirically examines depositors' ability to distinguish healthy banks from problematic banks, a necessary condition for depositors to impose discipline on banking institutions. We analyzed a large panel of 784 deposit‐taking institutions in Japan during the period from the 1992 financial year to the 2002 financial year. Our estimates indicate that depositors rightly appreciated the difference between healthy banks and risky banks, and that depositors of larger institutions are more sensitive to the bank risks than those of smaller institutions. We further argue that the estimated risk sensitivities of depositors are large enough to discipline the deposit‐taking institutions.     

TRADE,WAGES, AND PRODUCTIVITY

We develop a general equilibrium monopolistic competition model in which wages, productivity, consumption diversity, and markups respond to trade integration. We structurally estimate the model and simulate the impacts of removing all trade barriers generated by the Canada–U.S. border. Firm selection gets tougher by 8.09% in Canada and by 0.80% in the United States. Markups that consumers face, which are central to welfare, fall by up to 12.11% in Canadian provinces and by up to 2.82% in U.S. states. However, changes in markups measured at the firm level are ambiguous, thus providing a different piece of information.     

Intergenerational Transfers and Asset Inequality in Japan: Empirical Evidence from New Survey Data

This paper quantitatively examines the impact of intergenerational transfers on asset inequality among Japanese households. We estimate an intergenerational asset transfer function with various control variables, using a unique micro dataset taken from a survey conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office. Employing three different models, a Tobit model, an interval regression model and an ordered probit model, to ensure that our results are independent of the specific econometric approach used, we investigate whether asset transfers received are correlated with households’ financial strength. We find that higher income households are likely to receive larger asset transfers. However, the contribution of intergenerational transfers to asset inequality appears to be small.     

Engel's law, Petty's law, and agglomeration

This paper presents a model of structural change and agglomeration. A decline in transportation costs, by enhancing consumers’ purchasing power, leads to Engel's law of the demand shift from agricultural to non-agricultural goods. At the same time, the decline in transportation costs, by enlarging the extent of the market for non-agricultural goods, induces Petty's law of the labor reallocation from agriculture to non-agricultural activities. These structural transformations weaken dispersion forces given by farmers tied to the land, whereas they strengthen agglomeration forces generated by footloose non-agricultural workers. Thus, a substantial decline in transportation costs gives rise to agglomeration of non-agricultural activities.     

Benchmarking therapists: furthering the benchmarking method in its application to clinical practice

Psychotherapy research has been interested in understanding the variability observed among therapists with regard to their treatment effectiveness. An important initial step towards understanding the source of the differences is to reliably identify therapists that are effective. The current paper thus proposes a method for benchmarking therapists against predetermined criteria of effectiveness which could be conducted using any standard statistical package. Basic steps include (a) creating benchmark(s), (b) determining a prior the numerical criteria that constitute as ??effective?? based on the benchmark(s), (c) calculating pre-post effect sizes as an indicator of effectiveness at the case level using statistical adjustments so as to best match clinical (and other) differences among cases, and (d) statistically benchmarking the therapists using a random-effects hierarchical linear modeling. An example is provided that highlights the number of therapists who would be classified as effective based on various numerical criteria and confidence levels.