International Competition, Debt, and Uneven Development in a North-South Macroeconomic Model

This paper examines whether the intensification of international competition widens the gap between developing and developed economies. The intensification of international competition with an influential trade union in the North is known to lower the North s markup rate. This paper is unique because it points out that the intensification of international competition can widen the North-South gap when the Southern debt is taken into consideration. It also shows that the egalitarian policy in the North as influenced by trade unions is compatible with its international policy: relief of interest payments.North-South, Uneven Development, Debt

The Northern Immigration Policy in a North-South Economy Model

Wooton (1985) considered the immigration into Findlay (1980)’s North-South model and examined how the north’s relaxation of immigration policy influences income in both regions. Based on Wooton (1985), this paper has performed the same analysis assuming there to be a complete capital mobility between the north and the south. The major findings are as follows: In the long-run, the relaxation of the north’s immigration policy does not affect the per capita income of both the northern labour and immigrant workers. When the north practises a discriminative redistribution policy against the immigrant workers, the per capita income in the north will increase because redistribution of income from the immigrant workers to the northern labour as a result of the policy relaxation is taking place.

Egalitarianism Policy and Effective Demand under Globalization

Abstract. The study examines egalitarianism policies in terms of the relationship between labor and capital and extends the model developed by the economist Bowles. We introduce the demand factor to the Bowles model (2012), which discussed the effectiveness of the income and asset redistribution policies in a global economy. The improvement of productivity and the decrease in the ratio of monitoring labor through asset-based redistribution increase the real wage rate because of its lure for foreign capital. At this point in the Bowles model, the labor supply increases and then employment increases. In contrast, in our model, with the addition of the demand factor, the improvement of productivity increases employment, but the decrease in monitoring labor does not always increase employment as both demand and supply increase. This means that asset-based redistribution in a global economy is not always effective.Keywords. Egalitarianism, Redistribution, Effective demand, Globalization.JEL. E12, F60, J80, J88

International Competition, Debt, and Uneven Development in a North-South Macroeconomic Model

This paper examines whether the intensification of international competition widens the gap between developing and developed economies. The intensification of international competition with an influential trade union in the North is known to lower the North’s markup rate. This paper is unique because it points out that the intensification of international competition can widen the North-South gap when the Southern debt is taken into consideration. It also shows that the egalitarian policy in the North as influenced by trade unions is compatible with its international policy: relief of interest payments. JEL classification: F19, O19 Keywords: North-South, Uneven Development, Deb

The Northern Immigration Policy in a North-South Economy Model

Wooton (1985) considered the immigration into Findlay (1980)’s North-South model and examined how the north’s relaxation of immigration policy influences income in both regions. Based on Wooton (1985), this paper has performed the same analysis assuming there to be a complete capital mobility between the north and the south. The major findings are as follows: In the long-run, the relaxation of the north’s immigration policy does not affect the per capita income of both the northern labour and immigrant workers. When the north practises a discriminative redistribution policy against the immigrant workers, the per capita income in the north will increase because redistribution of income from the immigrant workers to the northern labour as a result of the policy relaxation is taking place

Egalitarian Policies and Effective Demand: Considering Balance of Payments (Note 1)

This study examines the effectiveness of redistribution policies considering balance of payments. Unlike Bowles (2012) and Abe (2015, 2016), we assume that capital movement is sluggish to consider the short-run effects. Results indicate that conventional egalitarian policies such as increasing unemployment compensation and strengthening dismissal regulations can be effective, whereas an asset-based redistribution such as a decrease in the ratio of monitoring labor cannot be. These results contradict Bowles (2012). We need to reevaluate conventional egalitarian policies if the effects of effective demand and adjustment of capital continue in the long run

Technical progress and maturity in a Kaleckian model of growth with an endogenous employment rate

We develop a Kaleckian model of growth with an endogenous employment rate and investigate the features following Cassetti(2003) which has considered bargaining power of workers and firms and technical progress. We assume that both of the target wage share and the technical progress depend on the rate of change of employment rate, and they become zero in steady state. We also assume that capital accumulation is a decreasing function in employment to consider maturity which defines the present capitalism society. From the above refinements, we get results different from Cassetti(2003). An increase in the saving rate does not make the growth rate decrease, but the utilization decrease. In addition to that, an increase in the rate of labor productivity exerts a positive impact on growth

Gastroduodenal Mucosal Injury in Patients Taking Low-Dose Aspirin and the Role of Gastric Mucoprotective Drugs: Possible Effect of Rebamipide

The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of mucosal injury in patients taking low-dose aspirin in Japan and examine the effect of gastric mucoprotective drugs on aspirin-related gastroduodenal toxicity. We selected 530 patients who had taken low-dose aspirin for 1 month or more after undergoing esophagogastroduodenoscopy from 2005 through 2006 at Teikyo University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. Endoscopic records were retrospectively reviewed to determine the presence of massive bleeding and mucosal injury (ulcer or erosion). The influence of clinical factors, including co-administration of gastroprotective drugs, was also examined. Hemorrhage was observed in 25 patients (3.7%) and mucosal injury (36.2%) in 192 patients. The presence of Helicobacter pylori antibody was a significant risk factor associated with mucosal injury. Patients taking any gastroprotective drug showed a significantly lower rate of mucosal injury than those not taking these drugs. Patients taking rebamipide concomitantly with proton pump inhibitors or histamine 2 receptor antagonists had mucosal injury less frequently than those taking acid suppressants plus other mucoprotective drugs. In conclusion, these results show the possible gastroprotective effects of rebamipide, suggesting that it may be a good choice in aspirin users with gastroduodenal toxicity that is not suppressed by acid suppressants alone

Sp6 downregulation of follistatin gene expression in ameloblasts

Sp6 is a member of the Sp family of transcription factors that regulate a wide range of cellular functions, such as cell growth and differentiation. Sp6, also called epiprofin, is specifically expressed in tooth germ, limb bud, and hair follicle, but there is little information on its function. To investigate the possible role of Sp6 in tooth development, first we established an Sp6- overproducing clone, CHA9, and analyzed the features of the cell, including cell proliferation and gene expression. The parental cells of CHA9 are the ameloblast-lineage G5 cells that we previously established from rat dental epithelia of lower incisor. Sp6 overproduction accelerated cell proliferation and induced the expression of ameloblastin mRNA, a marker of ameloblast differentiation. Second, we performed genome-wide screening of Sp6 target genes by microarray analysis. Out of a total 20,450 genes, 448 genes were up-regulated and 500 genes were down-regulated by Sp6. We found the expression of follistatin, a BMP antagonist, to be 22.4-fold lower in CHA9 than in control cells. Transfection of the Sp6-antisense construct into CHA9 cells restored follistatin expression back to equivalent levels seen in control cells, indicating that Sp6 regulates follistatin gene expression in ameloblasts. Our findings demonstrate that the follistatin gene is one of the Sp6 target genes in ameloblasts and suggest that Sp6 promotes amelogenesis through inhibition of follistatin gene expression