A General Equilibrium Approach to the Nonequivalence of Tariffs and Quotas under International Duopoly

We examine the nonequivalence of tariffs and quotas under international duopoly in a simple general equilibrium trading model; in particular, we study the welfare effects of a change in regime from a tariff to a quota. We first show that the results established by our predecessors in a partial-equilibrium segmented domestic market model do not straightforwardly carry over to a general equilibrium context. We next extend the segmented domestic market model to an integrated world market model and re-examine the equivalence of tariffs and quotas as well as the welfare aspects of the change in the regime.     

Voluntary Export Restraints under Imperfect Competition

The paper studies the effects of a change in the level of voluntary export restraints (VERs) on the behavior of the domestic firm and on the welfare of the importing country. The author constructs a simple two‐country Cournot duopoly model in which each firm produces a homogeneous good at constant marginal cost. It is shown that the results obtained by predecessors based on linear demand, constant‐elasticity demand, strategic substitutes and so forth all emerge as special cases.     

Resale price maintenance for supply chains distributing products with demand uncertainty

This paper explores the economic roles of resale price maintenance (RPM) in supply chains for a specific product, when consumers have taste heterogeneity and the manufacturer faces demand uncertainty. Two transaction schemes within supply chains are compared: (1) RPM, and (2) decentralized pricing in a competitive market environment. With decentralized pricing, a manufacturer loses the incentive to produce a product in categories where the probability that the manufacturer fails to design the product as suitable to public tastes of consumers is high. However, RPM resolves the problem and induces the manufacturer to supply the good, bringing positive surplus to consumers.     

Charity registration and reporting: a cross-jurisdictional and theoretical analysis of regulatory impact

Governments increasingly regulate charities to restrict the number of organizations claiming taxation exemptions, reduce charities’ ability to abuse state support, and detect and deter fraud. Public interest theory arguments suggest that regulation could increase philanthropy through enhancing public trust and confidence in charities. Nevertheless, public choice theory argues that regulators seek to maximize political returns, ‘manage’ charity-government relationships, and reduce potential regulatory capture.

We analyse charity regulatory regimes using these two regulatory theories and the relative costs and benefits of different regulatory regimes. Heeding these should reduce regulatory inefficiency and balance accountability and transparency demands against benefits charities receive from regulation.     

Event satisfaction,leisure involvement and life satisfaction at a walking event: the mediating role of life domain satisfaction

Given the rising popularity of mass-participant sport, such as walking and running events, research has started to address whether these types of events could promote life satisfaction for participants. Nevertheless, the theoretical link between event participation and life satisfaction has not been fully elaborated. Using bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, this study examined the role of event satisfaction and the three facets of leisure involvement – attraction, centrality and self-expression – in people’s life domain satisfaction and life satisfaction. Participants (N = 236) were recruited from a walking event held in western Japan. The results of the study revealed that event satisfaction had positive, indirect effects on life satisfaction through satisfaction with family life and personal achievement. Attraction in walking also had positive, indirect effects on life satisfaction through satisfaction with family life, personal achievement and social life. In contrast, centrality and self-expression in walking were not associated with satisfaction with any life domains and life satisfaction. Findings from this study highlight the importance of life domain satisfaction in the relationship between event satisfaction, leisure involvement and life satisfaction. These findings also suggest that walking events can promote life satisfaction by providing the enjoyment of walking as physically active leisure.     

Economic Development in Asian Countries, and the Effectof Trade in Asia on Employment and Wages in Japan

There is a controversy in the USA and several European countries on whether or not an increase in imports in manufacturing goods from low-wage developing countries has major effects on employment and wages in industrialized countries. This paper examines the issue for Japanese imports, paying a particular attention to the effect of manufacturing imports from Asian countries on employment and wages in Japan. It is found that the effect has not been large to date, but that there could be negative effects on employment and, in particular, wages if imports from China and India were to increase substantially.     

Auditing internal transfer prices in multinationals under monopolistic competition

This paper derives an appropriate standard price that can be used by the tax authorities of a country for auditing transfer prices in multinational firms (MNFs) for the purpose of social welfare maximization of the country. We assume that the corporate tax rate in the host country, where MNFs undertake foreign direct investment to locate their manufacturing divisions, is lower than that in the home country. Our conclusion is that the tax authorities of the home country should not always force MNFs to hold down the transfer price through a too strict audit standard if it aims to maximize social welfare of the country in the long-run equilibrium. This result implies that tax authorities face a trade-off between consumer welfare and tax revenue when determining the standard price used for auditing. One notable implication is that the tax authorities should raise the upper-limit price allowed for internal transfers as the elasticity of substitution between brands for consumers decreases.     

Policy Uncertainty and Saving Attitude: Evidence from a Survey on Consumers

Uncertainty over the social security and tax system is often pointed out as a source of stagnant household consumption at the aggregate level. This study presents empirical evidence on this issue by using original survey data of Japanese individuals. The results indicate that individuals are highly uncertain over the future course of social security and tax policies. The policy uncertainty is associated with an orientation toward saving, and the relationship is stronger for low‐income individuals. These results suggest that improving long‐term predictability in the social security and tax system may contribute to weakening households' saving orientation.     

Hybrid estimators for small diffusion processes based on reduced data

We deal with the Bayes type estimators and the maximum likelihood type estimators of both drift and volatility parameters for small diffusion processes defined by stochastic differential equations with small perturbations from high frequency data. From the viewpoint of numerical analysis, initial Bayes type estimators for both drift and volatility parameters based on reduced data are required, and adaptive maximum likelihood type estimators with the initial Bayes type estimators, which are called hybrid estimators, are proposed. The asymptotic properties of the initial Bayes type estimators based on reduced data are derived and it is shown that the hybrid estimators have asymptotic normality and convergence of moments. Furthermore, a concrete example and simulation results are given.     

What Types of Policy Uncertainties Matter for Business?

This paper reports data from the author's original survey of Japanese companies concerning the distributions on subjective uncertainties over economic policies and their effects on business operations. Companies perceive uncertainty over the future course of certain economic policies, such as the social security system and international trade policy. Policy uncertainty regarding the tax system, trade policy and environmental policy can have substantial effects on managerial decisions, especially on equipment investment and overseas activities. According to the companies’ subjective probability distributions on their sales outlook, manufacturers face greater uncertainty than non‐manufacturing companies do. Uncertainty over economic policies substantially reduces the expected sales growth rate.