The 142nd meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, January 21, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Ken-Ichi Shimomura, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University
Title: "Toward the equalization of medical care among regions in Japan"
Abstract:
In Japan, the number of enrollments in medical school has been gradually increasing since 2008, and the number of doctors is increasing by 3,500 to 4,000 every year at the national level. The fact is that the supply and demand for medical doctors are to be equilibrated in 2029. Then, what is the next issue? We believe that it is the equalization of medical care among regions. We consider what happens in the future if the distribution of medical institutions in Japan remains unchanged.
The 141st meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, December 17, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Shingo Ishiguro, Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University
Title: "Relational Contracts and Hierarchies"
Abstract:
We investigate the organizational design of allocating authorities in a dynamic setting in which, due to the lack of verifiable information, trading parties must rely on relational contracts via long-term relationships. We then show that optimal organization becomes multi-tier hierarchies in which contracting authorities are delegated over agents as a vertical chain of commands, instead of allocating them in the centralized manner, when parties are sufficiently patient. We also discuss several implications about supplier networks in the automotive industry in Japan and the US.
The 140th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, November 19, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Shuhei Kitamura, Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University
Title: "Cities, Conflict, and Corridors"
Abstract:
In this paper we propose that state structure in European history is linked to how geography affects the effective distance between state capitals. First we document that military battles tend to occur close to the shortest-distance corridors between the capitals of the belligerent powers, *except* where that corridor is intercepted by certain types of geography, specifically seas, mountains, and marshes. Geography thus seems to have influenced the effective military distance between the belligerents' capitals. Then we explore similar corridors between a multitude of European cities, documenting two patterns: (1) state capitals tend to be closer to each other when the geography between them is more separating, as measured by similar types of geography found to affect battle locations; (2) controlling for distance, the likelihood that any two cities are located in the same state decreases with the same types of geography between them. We present a model consistent with these patterns.
The 139th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, October 15, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Junichiro Ishida, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
Title: "Signaling under Double-crossing Preferences"
Abstract:
This paper provides a general analysis of signaling under double-crossing preferences with a continuum of types. There are natural economic environments where the indifference curves of two types cross twice, such that the celebrated single-crossing property fails to hold. Equilibrium exhibits a threshold type below which types choose actions that are fully revealing and above which they pool in a pairwise fashion, with a gap separating the actions chosen by these two sets of types. The resulting signaling action is quasi-concave in type. We also provide an algorithm to establish equilibrium existence by construction.
The 138th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, July 16, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Keisuke Kawata and Masaki Nakabayashi, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Title: "Persistent Mind: The Effects of Information Provision on Policy Preferences"
Abstract:
We implemented an online panel survey with a randomized conjoint design three times over one year in Japan to track the direction of respondents’ preferences within a multi-attribute public policy space. The policy space consisted of spending on education, infrastructure, health insurance, pensions, and welfare programs for poor individuals as well as fiscal retrenchment. Providing information on the poverty rate in the first wave directed respondents' preferences toward support for welfare programs by either increasing or reallocating the budget. The effects had persisted in the second wave 5 months later across a diverse range of respondents' backgrounds or political positions. In the third wave one year later, the effects had attenuated.
The 137th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, June 18, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Hirokazu Ishise, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University
Title: "Quality, Productivity, and Survival: Evidence from the Japan's Silk-reeling Industry during the Interwar Period (Very preliminary)"
Abstract:
Does producing high-quality goods sacrifice the productivity of their production? If there is a trade-off between high quality and high productivity, which one is more important for a plant's success? To what extent does the price of goods reflect the quality of the goods? The quality of goods is theoretically studied, but empirically not due to the measurement difficulty. I analyze the relationship among quality of goods, price, productivity, exporting status, and the plant's survival probability in the context of Japan's silk-reeling industry during the interwar period. The choice of the industry has attractive features: the production process is simply turning the main input, cocoon, into the single-output, raw silk; both inputs and output markets are highly competitive so that the endogenous markup is not a concern; and most importantly, the quality of raw silk is checked by the national inspection center and reported in the data. At this stage, I find that (1) the price reflects quality, and (2) plants producing high-quality silk tend to have high productivity.
The 136th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, May 21, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Tomoko Hashino, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University
Title: "From Lyon to Kyoto: Modernization of traditional silk-weaving district in Japan, 1887- 1929"
Abstract:
Three craftsmen were sent by the Kyoto prefectural government to Lyon in France to introduce new weaving technologies, particularly power looms, in the early 1870s. Contrary to their mission, however, they brought back the Jacquard as well as flying shuttle to Kyoto because they thought that power-looms were too expensive and inappropriate for sophisticated products in Kyoto. It took more than a couple of decades to diffuse Jacquard in Kyoto, which had been the most advanced silk weaving district producing high-quality figured fabrics in Japan since the medieval period. The introduction of Jacquard triggered structural change and transformation in Kyoto for sustainable long-term growth. In this paper, I explore the production trend from 1887 to 1929 to characterize growth phases in Kyoto, which can be divided into ‘Jacquard-led growth,’ ‘out-weaver-based growth,’ and ‘power-loom-assisted growth’ phases. While the out-weaver-based growth occurred in the second phase because the fine division of labor among small enterprises including out-weavers using Jacquard gradually developed, power-loom-assisted growth took place because labor-saving power looms, which confer advantage to larger enterprises, became popular with significant rise of wage rate in Japan after World War I.
The 135th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, April 16, 2021 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Katsuya Takii, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University
Title: "How can a college's admissions policies help produce future business leaders? "
Abstract:
This paper examines the long run impacts of expanding the range of subjects in higher education admission examinations using a historical event, the reform of Japanese entrance examinations in 1979. Our results show that degree programs that are forced to increase the number of subjects increases the probability of graduates being appointed onto the board of directors of publicly traded companies despite reducing the measured average intellectual ability of students in the program. This suggests that by broadening the range of subjects, colleges can select students who can master a wide range of knowledge and transform them into future business leaders.