Research

Working Papers

1. Cognitive versus physical impairment and the use and cost of long-term care in Japan (with Sizhe Liu, Toshiaki Iizuka, and Haruko Noguchi) - NBER WP

2. Wait-for-discount: Strategic deferral and dynamic inefficiency under universal health insurance (with Masato Oikawa, Akira Kawamura, and Haruko Noguchi) - WINPEC WP

3. Anticipation and adaptation: Cost-sharing responses and mortality among the oldest-old (with Masato Oikawa, Akira Kawamura, and Haruko Noguchi) - WINPEC WP

4. How immigration is changing the Black-White earnings gap (with Neeraj Kaushal and Felix Muchomba) - NBER WP

Work in Progress

1. When, not just how much: Family income timing and stratified college destinations in Japan (with Ya Gao and Haruko Noguchi)

2. Growing up in America: Race, immigration, and age at arrival (with Neeraj Kaushal and Felix Muchomba) 

3. Disease-specific outpatient responses to higher cost-sharing among adults aged 75 years and older: Regression discontinuity difference-in-differences evidence from Japan's 2022 copayment reform (with Masato Oikawa, Akira Kawamura, Zentaro Yamagata, Toshihide Awatani, and Haruko Noguchi)

4. How does price affect healthcare utilization patterns: Evidence from Japan (with Yingqian Tang, Masato Oikawa, Haruko Noguchi, and Akira Kawamura)

Publications

1. Shen, Y., Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2026). Does college education promote healthier behaviors? Evidence from demographic distortion caused by Japanese superstitious behavior. Health Economics, forthcoming.

2. Fu, R., Sohn, Y., Shen, Y., Noguchi, H. (2026). Invisible threat, tangible harm: Radiation anxiety and birth outcomes after Fukushima. Journal of Health Economics, 107, 103125. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2026.103125

3. Fu, R., Wang, S., Shen, Y., Noguchi, H. (2026). Causal effects of education on marriage and fertility in Japan: A research note on a quasi-experimental approach utilizing zodiac superstition as an exogenous shock. Demography, 12530548. DOI: 10.1215/00703370-12530548

4. Fujimoto, A., Fu, R., Noguchi, H., Maruyama, S., Nakamura, S. (2025). Breaking brand: An observational study on pharmacy-hospital-patient relationships and generic drug utilisation in Japan. BMJ Open, 15(5): e093601. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-093601

5. Fu, R., Liu, S., Oikawa, M., Noguchi, H., Kawamura, A. (2025). Healthcare utilization among Japanese older adults during later stage of prolonged pandemic. Scientific Reports, 15: 13813 (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-98908-x

6. Wels, J., & Fu, R. (2025). Associations of employment status, working time and job satisfaction with sleep duration and sleep quality among the 50+ population in Japan. Industrial Health, 63(5): 465-477. DOI: 10.2486/indhealth.2024-0131 

7. Fu, R., Le, D.D. & Ibuka, Y.  (2025). The impact of reducing formal care benefits on caregivers’ well-being: evidence from Japan. Review of Economics of the Household, 23(4): 1221-1249. DOI: 10.1007/s11150-024-09699-5 

8. Tang, Y., Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2024). Impact of medical insurance integration on reducing urban-rural health disparity: Evidence from China. Social Science & Medicine, 357: 117163. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117163 

9. Fu, R., Iizuka T., & Noguchi, H. (2023). Long-term care in Japan. In K. McGarry & J. Gruber (Eds.).  Long-term care around the world, University of Chicago Press.

10. Sandström, G., Padyab, M., Noguchi, H., Fu, R. (2023). Convergence and persistent contrasts in the determinants of working-age women in Sweden and Japan living alone since the 1990s. Genus 79: 11 DOI: 10.1186/s41118-023-00192-y 

11. Shen, Y., Fu, R., and Noguchi, H. (2021).  COVID-19’s lockdown and crime: The state of emergency under Abe administration. Asian Economic Policy Review, 16(2): 327-348. DOI: 10.1111/aepr.12339

12. Fu, R., Shen, Y., and Noguchi, H. (2020). The best of both worlds? The economic effects of a hybrid fee-for-service and prospective payment reimbursement system. Health Economics,  30(3): 505-524. DOI: 10.1002/hec.4205

13. Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2019). Moral hazard under zero price policy: Evidence from Japanese long-term care claims data. The European Journal of Health Economics, 20(6): 785-799. DOI: 10.1007/s10198-019-01041-6

14. Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2019). How do cardiovascular diseases harm labour force participation? Evidence of nationally representative survey data from Japan, a Super-Aged Society. PloS  One,  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219149

15. Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2018). Does the positive relationship between health and marriage reflect protection or selection? Evidence from middle-aged and elderly Japanese. Review of Economics of the Household, 16(4): 1003-1016. DOI: 10.1007/s11150-018-9406-4

16. Fu, R., Noguchi, H., Kawamura, A., Takahashi, H., Taymiya, N. (2017). Spillover effect of Japanese long-term care insurance as an employment promotion policy for family caregivers. Journal of Health Economics, 56: 103-112. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.09.011 

17. Fu, R., Noguchi, H., Tachikawa, H., Aiba, M., Nakamine, S., Kawamura, et. al. (2017). Relation between social network and psychological distress among middle-aged adults in Japan: Evidence from a national longitudinal survey. Social Science & Medicine, 175: 58-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.043 

18. Fu, R., Noguchi, H. (2016). Does marriage make us healthier? Inter-country comparative evidence from China, Japan, and Korea. PloS one, 11(2), e0148990. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148990

19.  Fu, R., Noguchi, H., Suga, K. (2016). A revisit to the Grossman model with endogenous health depreciation. Economics Bulletin, 36(4): 2405-2412. 

Recent Presentations

1. NBER NY Seminar, "How immigration is changing the Black-White earnings gap," March 27, 2026, New York.

2. iHEA Congress 2025, "The effect of cost-sharing on medical care demand: Insights from novel real-world data for the oldest-old in Japan," July 23, 2025, Bali.

3. EuHEA Conference 2024, "The effect of cost-sharing on medical care demand: Insights from novel real-world data for the oldest-old in Japan," July 2, 2024, Vienna .

4. Ca'Foscari Seminar, "In utero exposure to radiation fear and birth outcome: Evidence from Fukushima nuclear power plant accident," November 22, 2023, Venice.

5. WEAI 2023 Annual Conference,  "In utero exposure to radiation fear and birth outcome: Evidence from Fukushima nuclear power plant accident," July 5, 2023, San Diego.

6. ASSA 2023 Annual Meeting, "In utero exposure to radiation fear and birth outcome: Evidence from Fukushima nuclear power plant accident," January 6, 2023, New Orleans.

7. 7th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences, "In utero exposure to radiation fear and birth outcome: Evidence from Fukushima nuclear power plant accident," August 25, 2022, Lindau.

8. EuHEA Conference 2022, "The impact of contracting formal care on informal care provision and caregiver well-being: evidence from Japan," July 7, 2022, Oslo.

9. European Population Conference 2022, "Convergence and persistent contrasts in the determinants of living alone among working-age women in Sweden and Japan since the 1990s,"  June 30, 2022, Online (Groningen).

10. Irdes-Dauphine AHEPE 8th Workshop, "The impact of contracting formal care on informal care provision and caregiver well-being: evidence from Japan," June 23, 2022, Paris.

Main Fundings

FY2026-29, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research C (Principal Investigator), JSPS

FY2022-25, Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (Principal Investigator), JSPS

FY2019-21, Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (Principal Investigator), JSPS

FY2017-18, Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up (Principal Investigator), JSPS