The 150th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, January 20, 2023 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Kentaro Inomata, Faculty of Management and Governance, Shumei University
Title: "Red-Tape Incentives in Oligopoly"
Abstract:
This study deals with the issue of red-tape barriers (RTBs), which is recently discussed by the OECD and WTO, using a simple oligopolistic trade model. Taking not only the tariff rate decisions but also RTBs decisions into account, we obtain the following results: (i) Under a free trade agreement (FTA), governments have an incentive for RTBs when the number of foreign firms is relatively small, but the incentive decreases as the number of foreign firms increases. These results suggest that when concluding an FTA, if incentives for RTBs are not taken into consideration at the same time, welfare may rather deteriorate, and further it is necessary to pay attention to domestic and international competitive levels.
The 149th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, December 16, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Ryoji Ohdoi, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University
Title: "A heterogeneous-firm model of trade and growth with country-specific credit constraints"
Abstract:
How does the international asymmetry in the degree of credit market imperfections affect patterns of trade, financial flows, and the growth rate? To investigate this issue in a unified framework, in this study we introduce financial frictions into an asymmetric two-country model of trade, growth, and firm heterogeneity. Owing to asymmetric countries, the market size for the tradable goods in each country is endogenously determined. Main results are summarized as follows. First, unilateral relaxation of credit constraints in one country enlarges the market size for the tradable goods in that country. Second, such a change in the market size facilitates elimination of unproductive firms even in the other country. Third, then, even unilateral relaxation of credit constraints increases the both countries' common long-run growth rate.
The 148th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, November 25, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Kazuhiro Yamamoto, Graduate School/School of Economics, Osaka University
Title: "A welfare analysis of a monocentric city model under monopolistic competition with heterogeneous firms and variable elasticity of substitution preference"
Abstract:
We study the equilibrium and the optimal resource allocation in a monocentric city model under monopolistic competition among heterogeneous firms with a variable elasticity of substitution (VES) preference. First, we show that in an equilibrium, the output of firms with high productivity is under-produced and the output of firms with low productivity is over-produced. Also, firms with too low productivity remain in the market. This is the market distortion brought about by firm heterogeneity and VES preference. Second, an increase in city size increases the output per firm with high productivity, while it decreases the output per firm with low productivity. Thus, the increase in city size acts to correct the market distortions introduced by firm heterogeneity and VES preference.
The 147th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, October 21, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Kohei Yamagata, PhD Candidate, Department of Economics, Washington University in St.Louis
Title: "Dynamics of External Recruitment and Internal Promotion"
Abstract:
We provide a new model to describe an internal promotion race with power shifting over time. This model includes a kind of rachet effect in which an employee tries to manipulate their post-promotion reputation as a manager before she is promoted. Anticipating this incentive, the belief about the job's difficulty, which is updating over time, and potential subordinates' cooperation determine the magnitude of this rachet effect and the internal promotion rule. We use this dynamic model to compare internal promotion and external recruitment. We show that regardless of the rachet effect's significant impact, committing to internal promotion can provide more long-run profit than the mixture of internal promotion and external recruitment.
The 146th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, July 15, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Takashi Shimizu, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University
Title: "On the Combination of Biased Members"
Abstract:
We consider the information transmission problem within organization, and especially we focus on how to combine biased subordinates to elicit truthful information from them. We assume that the directions of subordinates' biases are common knowledge, but not their sizes. This leads to the results that homogeneous combination of subordinates are better than heterogeneous one. This is because in the case of homogeneous subordinates, the effect of one's false report might be accelerated by another false report and this anxiety reduces an incentive for subordinates to send a false report.
The 145th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, June 10, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Masaki Nakabayashi, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Title: "One Nation Restored: The Security-Liberty Trade-off under Uncertainty" (with Keisuke Kawata)
Abstract:
A rise in uncertainty tends to reveal innate heterogeneous preferences. We use the COVID-19 pandemic to measure how Japanese adults' preferences for policies to contain COVID-19 evolved from July 2020 to February 2021 through an internet panel randomized conjoint experiment where participants chose between hypothetical policy packages intended to combat COVID-19. In July 2020, Japanese adults showed divergent preferences on the critical element of the security-liberty trade-off; whether to allow the government to track social media/phone communication records as a measure to detect infection routes. In February 2021, after factoring in estimated risks of infections, death tolls, and the progress of vaccination, Japanese adults converged to restore the value to defy the government's tracking of social media/phone communication records.
Link to the paper: NASMES 2022
The 144th meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar
Date Friday, May 20, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Akifumi Ishihara, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Title: "Employee Referrals and Incentive Schemes"
Abstract:
This study investigates employee referral, recruitment through the current employees' referral, and incentive pays in a framework of moral hazard with multiple workers. We first find from online survey data that adopting an employee referral programme or workers' referring experiences are positively associated with group pays. We then construct a theoretical framework to characterize the optimal pattern of incentive scheme and recruitment management. The employer chooses either centralized hiring, where a new employee is found by the employer, or referral hiring, where a new employee is found by an incumbent employee. Consistent with the data, the employer tends to prefer referral hiring as joint performance evaluation is exhibited for the incumbent employee to work hard than relative performance evaluation. We also demonstrate that due to the risk premium paid for the incumbent employee, referral hiring is likely to be preferred when the performance of the incumbent employee is less uncertain.
The 143rd meeting jointly organized with International Public Policy Seminar *This seminar was held in Japanese.
Date Friday, April 15, 2022 13:30 to 15:00
Place Held online
Presenter Masanori Takashima, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University
Title: "Carpenter’s wage in 17th century Japan: Basic data, issues and findings"
Abstract:
Recent progress in studies of living standards of Japanese economic history and opening historical databases have made it possible to analyse wages over very long-run periods. However, the 17th century, the transitional period from the medieval to the early modern period, is still a gap period for quantitative analysis, due to the disruption and reconstruction of monetary systems. This study attempts to compile a small-scale database on the carpenter's wages in Kyoto during that period, and conducts a preliminary analysis and discusses future issues.