WHY HAS JAPAN’S MASSIVE GOVERNMENT DEBT NOT WREAKED HAVOC (YET)?

October 2013, Revised January 201

Explaining Foreign Holdings of Asia's Debt Securities: The Feldstein-Horioka Paradox Revisited

In this paper, we find that home bias is still present in all economies and regions, especially in the case of short-term debt securities, but that there are substantial variations among economies and regions in the strength of home bias, with the Eurozone economies, the US, and developing Asia showing relatively weak home bias and advanced Asia, especially Japan, showing relatively strong home bias. We then examine trends over time in foreign holdings of debt securities and find that capital has been flowing from the US and the Eurozone economies to both advanced Asia (especially Japan) and developing Asia and that foreign holdings of debt securities have been increasing in advanced as well as developing Asia but for different reasons. The main reason in the case of advanced Asia (especially Japan) appears to be higher riskadjusted returns, whereas the main reason in the case of developing Asia appears to be the growth of debt securities markets combined with relatively weak home bias and (in the case of short-term securities) lower exchange rate volatility. Finally, we find that since the Global Financial Crisis, foreign holdings of debt securities have declined (i.e., that home bias has strengthened) in all economies and regions except developing Asia, where they have increased (except for a temporary decline in 2008) but where their share is still much lower than the optimal share warranted by the capital asset pricing market model

Dealing with Disasters: Environmental History of Early Modern Cities (Edo, Istanbul, London, Pest, and Prague)

List of ContributorsForeword Introduction The Ordinary and the Extraordinary in Early Modern Cities / Koichi Watanabe trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Part I: Aspects of Urban Disasters Chapter 1 Typhoon Damage in 1856 Edo: Integrating Archaeology, Climatology and History / Koichi Watanabe, Junpei Hirano, Hiroyuki Ishigami, and Masumi Zaiki trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Chapter 2 The Great Flood in Pest, 1838 / Csaba Katona Chapter 3 Fire Disasters in European Cities, 1600-1800 David Garrioch Comment Disaster of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911 / Akira Horichi trans. by Yoko Onodera Part II: Disasters and Responses Chapter 4 Prevent the Big Water. Flood Control Measures in Prague (Bohemia) Issued by Public Administrative Bodies in Late 18th Century / Ondřej Hudeček Chapter 5 Citizens’ Awareness of Firefighting in Edo: Analysing Eighteenth-Century Textbooks on Firefighting / Reiji Iwabuchi trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Part III: Infrastructure as Artificial Nature Chapter 6 The Ordinary Made Extraordinary: The Archaeology of Water Management in a Global City / Sophie Jackson Chapter 7 Management and Civil Engineering of Urban Water Supply and Sewage System in Edo as Seen from Archaeological Excavation / Hiroyuki Ishigami trans. by Mina Ishizu Chapter 8 Dredging the Edo Castle\u27s Moat: a Case of the Okayama-Domain Dredging in 1765 / Reiji Iwabuchi trans. by Naoko Nomoto Chapter 9 Canal, Dredging and Sedimentation in the Lowland Area of East Edo: Considering Physical and Spatial Characteristics of Canals in a Historical Context / Genki Takahashi trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Part IV: Hinterland and Nature Chapter 10 Flooding in Edo and the Tone-gawa River and Tama-gawa River Systems / Koichi Watanabe trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Chapter 11 The Great Edo Flood of 1742 and the Okutama Valley / Koichi Watanabe trans. by Hisashi Kuboyama Chapter 12 The Deluge of Istanbul in 1563: a Case of Flood Where There Was No River / Kazuaki Sawai trans. by Yoko Onodera Chapter 13 Storms, Flooding and the Development of London 1300-1500 / Matthew Davies Chapter 14 Bridging London’s River’s General Situation of London, the Thames, the Bridge / Vanessa Hardin

Explaining Foreign Holdings of Asia’s Debt Securities

In this paper, we analyze data on trends since 2000 in foreign holdings of government securities and other debt securities, with emphasis on Japan and developing Asia. We find that foreign residents generally increased their holdings of Asian debt securities during the sample period and in particular during the post-global financial crisis (GFC) period. Meanwhile, foreign holdings of debt securities have been declining in the eurozone. Foreign holdings of short-term debt securities were very volatile during the GFC period (2009–11), with a sharp drop in foreign holdings of short-term Asian debt securities that was followed by a renewed surge. Our empirical analysis suggests that despite the increase in foreign holdings of debt securities its share is still far lower than the optimal portfolio warranted by the capital asset pricing market theory. In other words, foreign investors’ home bias is still strong. The overall increase in foreign holdings of Asian debt securities appears to be driven by relatively stable exchange rates and the higher risk-adjusted returns on the debt securities of the region. Additionally, we find that investors were more "home-biased" during the GFC period and invested less in the markets of the major industrialized economies

Blockade of the Poliovirus-Induced Cytopathic Effect in Neural Cells by Monoclonal Antibody against Poliovirus or the Human Poliovirus Receptor

The poliovirus (PV)-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) was blocked in neural cells but not in HeLa cells by the addition of monoclonal antibody (MAb) against PV or the human PV receptor (CD155) 2 h postinfection (hpi). Since each MAb has the ability to block viral infection, no CPE in PV-infected neural cells appeared to result from the blockade of multiple rounds of viral replication. Pulse-labeling experiments revealed that virus-specific protein synthesis proceeded 5 hpi with or without MAbs. However, in contrast to the results obtained without MAbs, virus-specific protein synthesis with MAbs was not detected 7 hpi. Shutoff of host translation was also not observed in the presence of MAbs. Western blot analysis showed that 2A(pro), the viral protein which mediates the cleavage of eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4G, was still present 11 hpi. However, intact eIF4G appeared 11 hpi. An immunocytochemical study indicated that 2A(pro) was detected only in the nucleus 11 hpi. These results suggest that neural cells possess protective response mechanisms against PV infection as follows: (i) upon PV infection, neural cells produce a factor(s) to suppress PV internal ribosome entry site activity by 7 hpi, (ii) a factor which supports cap-dependent translation for eIF4G may exist in infected cells when no intact eIF4G is detected, and (iii) the remaining 2A(pro) is not effective in cleaving eIF4G because it is imported into the nucleus by 11 hpi