12th TPLS in Tokyo

The Trans Pacific Labor Seminar (TPLS) was founded by Takao Kato and Peter Kuhn in 2007 to begin a much-needed process of international academic integration of labor economists in the Pacific Rim. Since then, the TPLS has been holding annual meetings in the United States, Japan and Australia. This year we are pleased to bring the TPLS meeting back to Tokyo.

Organized by Takao Kato, Peter Kuhn, Ryo Kambayashi, and Hodaka Morita

Sponsored by Institue of Economic Research, Hitotosubashi University and Kambayashi Scholarship Foundation

PROGRAM DAY 1

Dates: May 18 (Saturday), 2019

Place: Hitotsubashi Hall - Room 101-103, Tokyo, Japan

9:00 Opening remarks

Session 1: Firm-specific capital, Incentive, and internal labor market

Chair: Hideo Owan (Waseda)

9:05-9:45 Colleen Flaherty Manchester (Minnesota), "Responding to Regulation: The Effects of Changes in Mandatory Retirement Laws on Firm-Provided Incentives," with Anders Frederiksen (Aarhus)

9:45-10:25 Hodaka Morita (Hitotsubashi), "Firm-Specificity of Asset, Managerial Capability, and Labor Market Competition," with Cheng-Tao Tang (International University of Japan).

10:25-10:55 Coffee Break

Session 2: Workplace productivity

Chair: Tsuyoshi Turu (Hitotsubashi)

10:55-11:35 Takao Kato (Colgate), "Vertical Communication in the Workplace," with Ryo Kambayashi (Hitotsubashi).

11:35-12:15 Jed DeVaro (California State University, East Bay), "Working Hours, Productivity, and Financial Performance," with John Pencavel (Stanford).

12:15-13:15 Lunch

Session 3: HR practices

Chair: Masaru Sasaki (Osaka)

13:15-13:55 Kathryn Shaw (Stanford), "Unraveling the Mystery of Megafirm Success: Do the Internal HR Practices of Megafirms Differentiate Them?"

13:55-14:35 Peter Kuhn (UCSB), "Why do Workers Bunch at Kink Points? Evidence from Accelerating Commissions," with Lizi Yu (UC Santa Barbara) and Guangli Zhang (UC Santa Barbara).

14:35-15:05 Coffee Break

Session 4 Health

Chair: Stacey Chen

15:05-15:45 Tim Haliday (Hawaii at Manoa), "The Impact of Public Health Insurance on Medical Utilization in a Vulnerable Population: Evidence from COFA Migrants" with Randall Q. Akee (Brookings), Tetine Sentell (Hawaii at Manoa), Megan Inada (Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services), and Jill Miyamura (Hawaii Health Information Corporation).

15:45-16:25 Hitoshi Shigeoka (Simon Fraser University), "Free for Children? Patient Cost-sharing and Healthcare Utilization "

18:00 Conference Dinner at KKR Hotel

PROGRAM DAY 2

Dates: May 19 (Sunday), 2019

Place: Hitotsubashi Hall - Room 101-103, Tokyo, Japan

Session 5 Gender and careers

Chair: Emiko Usui (Hitotsubashi)

9:00-9:40 Melanie Wassermann (UCLA), "Gender Differences in Politician Persistence"

9:40-10:20 Daiji Kawaguchi (Tokyo), "Parental leave and the gender gap in career advancement" with Takahiro Toriyabe (Tokyo)

10:20-10:50 Coffee Break

10:50-11:30 Seki Mai (Ritsumeikan), "Impact of the Proximity to the Delhi Metro on Work Participation of Female and Male" with Eiji Yamada (JICA)

Session 6: Education

Chair: Hiroaki Mori (Senshu)

11:35-12:15 Hiroko Okudaira (Doshisha) "Education Investment after Natural Disasters" with Tomohiko Inui

12:15-13:15 Lunch

13:15-13:55 Mari Tanaka (Hitotsubashi), "Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Evidence from Centralizing and Decentralizing School Admissions” with Yusuke Narita (Yale) and Chiaki Moriguchi (Hitotsubashi)

13:55-14:35 Ryuichi Tanaka (Tokyo), "Do Teachers Matter for Academic Achievement of Students? Evidence from Administrative Panel Data"

Closing remarks