Intangible Investment in Japan: New Estimates and Contribution to Economic Growth

The purpose of this paper is to measure intangible assets, to construct the capital stock of intangible assets, and to examine the contribution of intangible capital to economic growth in Japan. We follow the approach of Corrado, Hulten, and Sichel (2005, 2006) to measure intangible investment using the 2008 version of the Japan Industrial Productivity (JIP) Database. We find that the ratio of intangible investment to GDP in Japan has risen during the past 20 years and now stands at 11.6%, which is lower than the ratio estimated for the United States in the early 2000s. The ratio of intangible to tangible investment in Japan is also lower than equivalent values estimated for the United States. In addition, we find that, in stark contrast with the United States, where intangible capital grew rapidly in the late 1990s, the growth rate of intangible capital in Japan declined from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. In order to examine the robustness of our results, we also conducted a sensitivity analysis and found that the slowdown of the contribution of intangible capital deepening to economic growth and the recovery in Multi-Factor Productivity (MFP) growth from the second half of the 1990s observed in our base case remain unchanged even if we take on-the-job training and Japanese data with respect to investment in firm-specific resources into account.intangible investment, labor productivity, growth accounting

Exploring a new pattern of vocational education and training

The 21st century is a new era in which information technology is developing rapidly and the demand from labor force market has broken the traditional concept of education. Vocational education and training as a life education is now regarded as a new type of educational system. But how to help this new system further develop so as to become gradually perfect is a big issue which calls for exploration in our country. We have done a great deal of beneficial exploration in this field and have founded a new Information Technology College by taking the advantage of teaching resources from Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), which is one of key universities in China, and the capital from two companies. It is a sub-college of NPU, but it has independent running system. We have gained initial experience in the reform of curriculum development, construction of laboratories and training center, employment of teachers, teaching quality control and evaluation. And we are willing to share them with other participants. Functional words: vocational education and training, teaching resources, teaching quality control, practice training, field school. As the 21st century becomes a new era in which information technology is developing rapidly, the new development of high-tech, which is changing by each passing day, has broken the traditional concept of education. And vocational education and training as a life education now has developed into a new type of educational system. In the Project of facing 21st century and vitalizing Education , the State Ministry of Education clearly points out that we should vigorously develop our higher vocational education and training, improve the technological and literature quality of all our civilians and promote employment so as to meet the urgent needs in developing our national economy. It also points out that higher vocational education must face local economic construction and social development, meet the demand of labor market, foster qualified personnel for the first line of production, service and management so as to show its unique characteristics. Therefore, the study and research of the demand in the development of Chinese higher vocational education and exploring diverse patterns of developing this new system becomes a heating topic in our higher educational circle. Based on the State Council\u27s policy of developing higher vocational education and the strategy of developing infrastructure in western China, the school authority of Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) decided to found a new college at the beginning of 1999, NPU-GL Information and Technology College, and started enrollment in the same year. The new college is now composed of 6 departments with 10 specialties. From the experience we gained from practice over the past years, we\u27ll explore a new pattern of higher vocational education and discuss some of the issues concerned

Distinguishing the Social Sector: A Buffalo-Niagara Labor Market Study

The study focuses on the two largest parts of Buffalo-Niagara’s social sector: nonprofit and government employers