Yohei Mitani

Yohei Mitani, Ph.D in Economics

Associate Professor

Division of Natural Resource Economics

Graduate School of Agriculture

Kyoto University

Contact Information 

• Email: mitani.yohei.7w@kyoto-u.ac.jp

• Address: Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

• Office: E-419

• Voice: +81-75-753-6193

• Office Hour: by appointment

Publications (* corresponding author)

• Yohei Mitani* and Naoya Yukizaki, "Voluntary cooperation for mitigating collective-risk under spatial externalities." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 109, p.102162, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2024.102162

• Md Habibur Rahman*, Kaoru Kitajima, Yohei Mitani, and Md Farhadur Rahman. "Geographical variations in woodfuel supply and trade in northeastern Bangladesh." Renewable Energy 222 (2024): 120004, 2024.

• Endre Iversen*, Kristine Grimsrud, Yohei Mitani, and Henrik Lindhjem, "Altruist talk may (also) be cheap: Revealed versus stated altruism as a predictor in stated preference studies," Environmental and Resource Economics, 83(3): 681-708, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-022-00704-y

• Masao Fukutomi, Nobuyuki Ito, and Yohei Mitani*, "How group size and decision rules impact risk preferences: Comparing group and individual settings in lottery-choice experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 98: 101873, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2022.101873

• Yohei Mitani* and Henrik Lindhjem, "Meta-analysis of landowner participation in voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services," Conservation Biology, 36(1): e13729, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13729

• Yohei Mitani*, "Is a PD game still a dilemma for Japanese rural villagers? A field and laboratory comparison of the impact of social group membership on cooperation," Japanese Economic Review, 73(1): 103-121, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s42973-021-00086-8

• Yohei Mitani* and Hideki Shimada, "Self-selection bias in estimating the determinants of landowners' re-enrollment decisions in forest incentive programs," Ecological Economics, 188:  107109, 2021.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107109

• Yohei Mitani* and Kohei Suzuki, "Facilitating efficient coordination in large groups: small incentive payments in nested groups," Journal of the Economic Science Association, 6(1): 68-76, 2020. rdcu.be/b6E9D

• Yohei Mitani*, "The effects of subjective perception on preference heterogeneity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 9(4): 371-382, 2020.

• Yohei Mitani* and Henrik Lindhjem, “Forest owners' participation in voluntary biodiversity conservation: What does it take to forego forestry forever?” Land Economics, 91(2): 235-251, 2015.

• Yohei Mitani*, Kohei Suzuki, Kana Moriyama, and Nobuyuki Ito, "Describing local community characteristics in Japanese rural villages: A community survey result and its application to explaining non-industrial private forest owners' behavior," Natural Resource Economics Review, 20: 85-95, 2015.

• Yohei Mitani*, Koichi Kuriyama, and Takahiro Kubo, "Effect of the announcement of conservation area and financial targets on charitable giving for forest conservation: A natural field experiment study in East Asia," Chapter 18 in The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Economics in Asia edited by Shunsuke Managi, Routledge, 369-378, 2015.

• Yohei Mitani* and Nicholas Flores, “Hypothetical Bias Reconsidered: Payment and Provision Uncertainties in a Threshold Provision Mechanism,” Environmental and Resource Economics, 59(3): 433-454, 2014.

• Yohei Mitani* and Ståle Navrud, “Using ecological information in choice experiments to value ecosystem services restoration programs in East Asia,” Chapter 21 in Handbook on the Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity edited by Paulo A.L.D. Nunes,  Pushpam Kumar, and Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Edward Elgar, 391-406, 2014.

• Yohei Mitani*, Naoyuki Izumi, and Kohei Suzuki, “Does incentive really matter for forestry-management incentive programs? An evidence from NIPF landowners’ re-enrollment decisions to a joint thinning program in Ehime, Japan,” Natural Resource Economics Review, 18: 1-14, 2013.

• Henrik Lindhjem* and Yohei Mitani, “Forest owners’ willingness to accept compensation for voluntary conservation: A contingent valuation approach,” Journal of Forest Economics, 18(4): 290-302, 2012.

• Artti Juutinen*, Rauli Svento, Yohei  Mitani, Erkki Mäntymaa, Yasushi Shoji, and Pirkko Siikamäki, “Modeling observed and unobserved heterogeneity in choice experiments,” Environmental Economics, 3(2): 57-65, 2012.

• Artti Juutinen*, Yohei Mitani, Erkki Mäntymaa, Yasushi Shoji, Pirkko Siikamäki, and Rauli Svento, “Combining Ecological and Economic Aspects in National Park Management: A Choice Experiment Application,” Ecological Economics, 70(6): 1231–1239, April 2011.

• Yohei Mitani* and Nicholas Flores, “Demand Revelation, Hypothetical Bias, and Threshold Public Goods Provision,” Environmental and Resource Economics, 44: 231-243, October 2009.

• Ito, N., Takeuchi, K.*, Kuriyama, K., Shoji, Y., Tsuge, T., and Mitani, Y., “The Influence of Decision-making Rules on Individual Preferences for Ecological Restoration: Evidence from an Experimental Survey,” Ecological Economics, 68: 2426-2431, June 2009.

• Mitani, Y.*, Shoji, Y., and Kuriyama, K., “Estimating Economic Values of Vegetation Restoration with Choice Experiments: A Case Study of Endangered Species in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan,” Landscape and Ecological Engineering, 4: 103-113. September 2008.

• Shoji, Y.*, Mitani, Y., Mieno, T., and Kuriyama, K., “Providing quality recreation experiences in Japan,” Economics Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp.1-11. April 2008.

• Mitani, Y.* and Flores, N., “Does Gender Matter for Demand Revelation in Threshold Public Goods Experiments?,” Economics Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 27, pp.1-7. June 2007.

Working Papers (Available upon request :-)

• Yohei Mitani*, Hideki Shimada, and Gorm Kipperberg, "Choice Architect Meets AES Design," February 2024.

• Tatsuhiro Shichijo* and Yohei Mitani, "Commitment to the Future: Government bond with coordinated climate action," January 2024 (SSRN 4558318).

• Hideki Shimada* and Yohei Mitani. "Peer Effects in Landowner Participation: Evidence from a Forest Incentive Program." NRE-DP: Natural Resource Economics Discussion Papers 2023 (2023): 0-39.

• Yohei Mitani and Nicholas Flores, “Public Goods Referenda without Perfectly Correlated Payment and Provision,” January 2022.

• Yohei Mitani and Nicholas Flores, “Robustness Test of Incentive Compatible Referenda: Consequential Probability, Group Size, and Value-cost Difference,” UMB, 2012. 

Work in Progress (Active: Happy to give a talk :-)

• Yohei Mitani*, Ao Liu, and Henrik Lindhjem, "Value of Statistical Life, Age, and Economic Preferences: Dynamically optimized sequential experimentation WTP elicitation approach." February 2024.

• Yohei Mitani*, Ken Miura, and Witsanu Attavanich, "Diffusion of Social Capital." February 2024.

• Ao Liu* and Yohei Mitani, "Peer effects in vaccine uptake." February 2024.

• Yohei Mitani* and Masao Fukutomi, "Being in a group, no guilty feelings anymore for the opponent." February 2024.

Work in Progress (Less active: but not given up :-p)

• Yohei Mitani* and Kohei Suzuki, "Hierarchical agglomeration bonus for private land conservation," Division of Natural Resource Economics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 2015.

• Yohei Mitani*, “Anonymity versus Mechanism in Voluntary Contributions: An Experimental Evidence,” UMB, Working Paper. 

• Yohei Mitani*, “The Effects of Ecological Information Provision on Preferences for Ecosystem Restoration,” Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2011. 

Presentations

• 2025: JEEM/REE Workshop @ NHH, Bergen (6.20.2025: DOSE VSL and age); 30th EAERE Meeting @ NHH, Bergen (6.17.2025: Incentivization in dictator games); Exp Econ Seminar @ Osaka ISER (6.10.2025: Incentivization in dictator games); AERE Summer  Conference @ New Mexico (5.28.2025: Cooperation with strangers); Asia-Pacific ESA @ Osaka (3.10.2025: Guilt aversion experiment); J-TREE Workshop @ Matsuyama (2.28.2025: Incentivization in dictator games)

• 2024: 7th Kasetsart-Kyoto-Univ. Symposium @ Kyoto Univ. (12.10.2024: Cooperation with strangers); SEEPS Mini @ Online (11.15.2024: Cooperation with strangers); Micro/Game Seminar @ KIER, Kyoto (10.24.2024: Cooperation with strangers); Seminar @ Univ. of Augsburg (10.4.2024: Cooperation with strangers); Seminar @ Univ. of Strasbourg (10.1.2024: Diffusion of social capital); 6th REECAP Annual Meeting @ Univ. of Cordoba (9.24.2024: Non-response bias and nudge intervention);  European SBCA @ Univ. of Warsaw (9.19.2024: Global meta-analysis of VSL); Advance with Field Exp @ LSE, London (9.5.2024: Diffusion of social capital); JADExJ-TREE Joint WS @ GRIPS, Tokyo (8.3.2024: Diffusion of social capital); 27th Experimental Social Science @ Doshisha Univ. Kyoto (7.20.2024: Guilt aversion experiment); 6th NAERE Workshop @ NHH Bergen (6.27.2024: Commitment to the future);  Workshop on Crab Bank@Rambhai Barni Rajabhat University (22.3.2024: Diffusion of social capital); Brown Bag Seminar@Kasetsart Univ (14.3.2024: Diffusion of social capital); 64th DEAR@Doshisha Univ (27.2.2024: Guilt aversion experiment); J-TREE Workshop@Sendai (21.2.2024: DOSE VSL and age); Workshop on Mortality and Morbidity Risk Valuation @ Dauphine Paris (25.1.2024: DOSE VSL and age, Global meta-analysis of VSL)

• 2023: SEEPS Workshop@Kyushu Univ (18.12.2023: Diffusion of social capital); Experimental Social Science@Waseda (26.11.2023: Diffusion of social capital); International Workshop on Experimental Economics@Osaka Univ (21.10.2023: Diffusion of social capital); Kyoto-Kassel Workshop on Environmental Economics@Kyoto Univ (20.10.2023: DOSE VSL and age); Research Workshop on LandValUse Project@Oslo (12.10.2023: Forest owner behavior); 5th REECAP Annual Meeting@Univ. of Warsaw (27.9.2023: Choice architect meets AES); European SCBA Annual Meeting@Milan (12.9.2023: DOSE VSL and age); Cournot Seminar@Univ. Strasbourg (7.9.2023: Choice architect meets AES); Rokko Seminar @ Kobe Univ (12.7.2023: Choice architect meets AES); JEA Spring Meeting@Online (28.5.2023: Special session on frontier and best practice on online and survey experiments); 11th ASAE International Conference@Aoyama Gakuin Univ (19.3.2023: Choice architect meets AES); Brown bag seminar@Kasetsart Univ (11.1.2023: Choice architect meets AES)  

Courses

• Applied microeconomics: Introduction (Bachelor), Kyoto University

• Applied microeconomics: Research methods (Bachelor), Kyoto University 

• Forest Economics (Bachelor), Kyoto University

  • Payment for ecosystem services, social dilemma, public good games, common pool resource games, charitable giving, CPR management, incentive programs, private land conservation

• Forest & Resource Economics (Graduate), Kyoto University 

  • A (Spring): Behavioral game theory

  • B (Fall): Experiments and applied econometrics in environmental economics

• ECN304 Behavioral & Experimental Economics (Graduate), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2011, 2012, 2013.

• ECN271 Project Evaluation (Bachelor & Master), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2011, 2012, 2013.

My Office

• My office (E419) is on the fourth floor, east side, of the Faculty of Agriculture Main Building  (Number 8 on the following campus map).

• The Division of Natural Resource Economics and my office are all located on the East side of the main building (#8), where the Natural Resource Economics Office is (see the following map).

Supervision

• Current students

  • Huang Hsiang-Ming 2025 April -

  • Fitta Setiajiati 2024 October - (MEXT)

  • Hitomi Nakayama 2024 April - (JSPS DC2, 2025 April -)

  • Ao Liu 2022 April - (JSPS DC2, 2024 April -)

• Past students

  • #2 Masao Fukutomi "Experimental Evidence on Economic Preferences and Group Decision-making" 2022 March, Kyoto University (JSPS DC1)

  • #1 Hideki Shimada "Econometric Analysis of Social Interactions and Economic Incentives in Conservation Schemes" 2021 March, Kyoto University (JSPS DC2 => AIST) 

  • #0 Kohei Suzuki "Voluntary Mechanisms for Private Land Conservation and Management" 2017 March, Kyoto University (JSPS DC2)

Short Description

• I am an experimentalist in the field of environmental economics and public economics.  Since October 2012, I have worked as an Associate Professor in the Division of Natural Resource Economics, Graduate School of Agriculture at Kyoto University.  Before coming to Kyoto University, I worked as a researcher/instructor at the UMB School of Economics and Business at the Norwegian University of Life Science and in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  From 2015 to 2017, I spent my sabbatical as a research fellow at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia.  My research interests include experimental and behavioral economics, environmental economics, development economics, and forest economics.