For academic correspondence, please contact me at toshi_at_andrew.ac.jp (replace _at_ with @).
Professor, Faculty of Economics
St. Andrew’s University, Japan
I work in environmental economics and international political economy. My research examines the relationship between the world economy and the natural environment, with particular attention to decarbonization, renewable energy, and the development of environmental political economy in Japan.
Climate policy is changing the conditions under which countries trade, firms invest, and energy is supplied. I study these changes through the relationship between environmental policy and international economic institutions. My interests include trade and the environment, global supply chains, and the economic and policy challenges associated with a transition toward a decarbonized world economy.
My work on renewable energy considers how energy transitions affect local economies and natural resource use. Topics include the location of woody biomass power plants, relations between energy businesses and local communities, and sustainable rural development. These questions connect energy policy with the institutions that shape its effects on regions.
I also examine the ideas developed in response to pollution and environmental problems, drawing on K. William Kapp’s theory of social costs and the work of Shigeto Tsuru and Kenichi Miyamoto. My research considers the economic and social institutions that shape environmental damage and policy responses. A particular focus is Tsuru’s political economy and its relevance to the environmental and climate crisis.
English titles for projects 25K03331, 22K12508, 19H04332, 17K00695, and 25281068 follow KAKEN. Other English titles are descriptive translations; links lead to the official Japanese project titles or reports.
October 2026–September 2028. JFM Public Enterprise Special Research Grant, FY2026. Co-investigator.
Award list | Project details (researchmap)
April 2025–March 2030. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (B), 25K03331. Co-investigator.
April 2023–March 2027. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (C), 23K11536. Co-investigator.
Yamakawa, Toshikazu (2023). “Assessing the environmental and climate crisis in the Japanese context: Shigeto Tsuru revisited.” The Japanese Political Economy, 49(2–3), 169–182. DOI
Yamakawa, Toshikazu (2026). “Shigeto Tsuru’s Political Economy of Pollution and the Environment: Contemporary Implications for Climate Change.” St. Andrew’s University Economic and Business Review, 68(1), 63–88. In Japanese. Full text (PDF)
吉弘憲介・山川俊和（2023）「再生可能エネルギー施設立地の政治経済学——日本の木質バイオマス発電を中心に」『季刊経済研究』41(1–4)、49–63頁。 Full text (university repository)
For a fuller picture of my work, including Japanese-language publications, conference presentations, and research projects, please see my researchmap profile.
Yamakawa, Toshikazu and Kei Ehara (eds.) (2027, forthcoming). Japanese Political Economy of the Environment: Theory, History, and Development. Routledge.
I received my PhD in Economics from Hitotsubashi University in 2009 and joined the Faculty of Economics at St. Andrew’s University in April 2023. Before taking up my current position, I held academic appointments at Hitotsubashi University, Shimonoseki City University, and Osaka Sangyo University.
I teach international environmental policy. My seminar teaching also addresses renewable energy and the economics of second-hand clothing, incorporating fieldwork into the study of environmental and economic issues.
April 2023–February 2025. JFM Public Enterprise Special Research Grant. Co-investigator.
Research report (Japanese) | Project details (researchmap)
April 2022–March 2026. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (C), 22K12508. Co-investigator.
April 2020–March 2025. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (C), 20K01506. Co-investigator.
Awarded in FY2019. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (B), 19H04332. Co-investigator.
April 2017–March 2020. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (C), 17K00695. Principal investigator.
April 2013–March 2016. JSPS KAKENHI, Scientific Research (B), 25281068. Research collaborator.
Awarded in FY2007. SOMPO Environment Foundation Academic Research Grant. Grant recipient.