Sources of Productivity Growth Dynamics: Is Japan Suffering From Baumol's Growth Disease?

This study examines the sources of labor productivity growth dynamics in Japan (1970–2010) and investigates the extent to which Japanese economic performance has been affected by Baumol's growth disease (BGD). We find that BGD silently undermines Japanese economic growth. However, the magnitude is miniscule, and consequently the aggregate labor productivity growth rate has not been decreasing monotonically. We also explore how BGD is arising and why it is small in the Japanese economy. BGD is weak because (1) the positive Baumol growth effect is also working in certain services sectors and (2) BGD is not a durable phenomenon: even if a sector begins to suffer from BGD, it is likely to recover quickly.     

Cyclical dynamics in a Kaleckian model with demand and distribution regimes and endogenous natural output

We analyse the interaction of demand and income distribution in a dynamic Kaleckian model with endogenous natural output. Endogenous changes of the natural output level to changes in the demand-determined actual output level have featured prominently in discussions of hysteresis after the crisis of 2008. We consider wage-led and profit-led demand (PLD) regimes and goods market-led and labour market-led income distribution regimes. The stability of the steady state is related to the endogeneity of natural output level in certain regimes. Limit cycles arise when the strong flexibility of prices or wages to the output gap is combined with moderate natural output hysteresis. A Kaleckian model with a wage-led demand regime and anticyclical profit share is less unstable and pseudo-Goodwin cycles can arise in the PLD regime with a procyclical profit share.     

Economic Consequences of the Declining Relevance of Financial Reports

The proliferation of alternative information sources has reduced the relevance of corporate annual reports. This paper examines economic outcomes in an oligopolistic industry as investors become better informed but financial reports convey a smaller portion of the total information. Results show that an increase in alternate sources of information, and the resulting decline in relevance of financial reports, leads to a loss in economic efficiency despite the presence of additional information. Investors benefit, but at the expense of consumers and social welfare. Investors benefit not necessarily because the amount of information in the economy increases, but because there is a change in the channels through which the same information is communicated.     

Balance‐of‐payments‐constrained cyclical growth with distributive class conflicts and productivity dynamics

This study builds a dynamic balance‐of‐payments‐constrained model that incorporates the endogenous determination of the economic growth rate, conflictive wage/price distribution and employment rate. The wages, commodity prices and employment rate are determined by the profit squeeze effect and labour‐saving technical change. The relative strength of these two effects generates different outcomes for the transitional dynamics and comparative statics analysis. Particularly, the model shows stability, instability and cyclical nature, the latter of which concurs with the evidence reported by previous empirical studies.     

Household Debt,Dynamic Stability,and Change in Demand Creation Patterns

This paper examines dynamic stability and demand creation patterns of an economy in the context of the augmentation of household debt. First, we investigate the dynamic characteristics specific to an economy with household borrowing. Second, we reveal how demand creation and economic growth pattern change with the introduction of households' active borrowing. Our results shows that it is more favorable for the stability of an economy to politically control the interest rate on lending rather than to leave it to be determined by private financial institutions. Our results also indicate that even if the demand regime is wage-led, paradoxically, a rise in wage share may not necessarily stimulate economic growth. On the other hand, profit-led growth is more likely.     

A DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF DEBT‐LED AND DEBT‐BURDENED GROWTH REGIMES WITH MINSKIAN FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

In this paper, we formally derive a version of the Minskian taxonomy of the firms' financial structure (hedge, speculative and Ponzi types), under the economic growth context in the long run. As for the economic growth, we formalize the mechanism of debt‐led (debt‐burdened) growth where the economy expands as the debt variables increase (decrease). By explicitly introducing the relationship between the finance growth regime and Minskian taxonomy in a dynamic model, the model in this paper enables us to evaluate whether or not the economic growth regime is sounded in terms of the firms' financial positions.     

Business Approaches to Combating Bribery: A Study of Codes of Conduct

The question of what firms do internally in the fight against bribery is probably as important to the successful outcome of that fight as formal anti-bribery law and enforcement. This paper looks at corporate approaches to anti-bribery commitment and compliance management using an inventory of 246 codes of conduct. It suggests that, while bribery is often mentioned in the codes of conduct, there is considerable diversity in the language and concepts adopted in anti-bribery commitments. This diversity is a feature of the language used in describing parties to bribery and in defining which activities are prohibited (e.g. promising bribes versus actually giving them, gifts and entertainment, and solicitation. This diversity of language and concepts suggests that it might be useful to extend and deepen efforts in business associations and international organisations to build consensus on the meaning of bribery and corruption. In contrast, the bribery codes show evidence of an emerging consensus on managerial approaches to combating bribery. This involves the deployment of a distinctive mix of management tools, including financial record keeping, statements by executive officers, internal monitoring, whistle-blowing facilities, creation of compliance offices and threats of disciplinary action.     

Fostering cooperation between farmers and public and private actors to expand environmentally friendly rice cultivation: intermediary functions and farmers’ perspectives

This study investigates the intermediary functions and the farmers’ perspectives in the development and implementation of agri-environmental schemes in Shiga Prefecture of Japan by employing the innovation journey analysis and the statistical analysis. The innovation journey analysis demonstrates that the prefectural government served as an ‘innovation intermediary’ to: (1) provide a clear vision of sustainable agriculture for farmers and other actors, (2) create and reinforce both technological and market niches and (3) develop actor networks involving local actors. It also identifies the following roles of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs) and the specialist wholesaler as innovation intermediaries to: (1) develop new farming materials such as fertilizers, (2) translate and deliver practical farming knowledge for farmers and (3) establish the market of environmental-friendly rice. Statistical analysis uncovers that farmers more appreciated the supports from the JAs than those from other intermediaries to participate in the schemes. Complemented by the innovation journey analysis, our findings suggest that the keys to increasing farmers’ participation in the schemes include a clear vision and economic incentives for farmers as well as the coordination among intermediaries who have different expertise.     

Corporate Reorganizations: Changes in the Intensity of Labor and Capital Expenditures

Using a new measure that indirectly captures a firm's restructuring efforts on the basis of changes in its labor and capital expenditure patterns, this study examines the link between restructuring and financial performance for an international sample of firms during the years 1989–1997. Results show that firms that curbed the growth in labor expense intensity (labor expense relative to sales), regardless of the accompanying changes in sales or in capital expenditure intensity, had significantly higher annual returns (despite having lower profitability) than firms that expanded their labor intensity. Financial market's response to a reduction in labor expense intensity appears to be more favorable if this reduction is accompanied by a reduction in capital expenditure growth when firms face declining sales, and an increase in capital expenditure growth when firm sales are growing.