Sustainability, Debt Management, and Public Debt Policy in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainability issues of Japan's fiscal policy and then to discuss the debt management policy using theoretical models and numerical studies. We also investigate the desirable coordination of fiscal and monetary authorities toward fiscal reconstruction. We include a potential possibilities of the government bonds in our theoretical model The public bonds, therefore, cannot be sold when the issuance leads the amount of debt outstanding to be more than a certain level. In this respect, the fiscal authority has to take into account the upper limit of stocks of public debt. This possibility of debt default provides the fiscal authority to issue public bonds strategically in an earlier period. A strategic behavior of fiscal authority induces the monetary authority, in a later period, to boost output and raise seigniorage revenues to eliminate the distortion of resource allocation due to the limitation on debt issuance. Therefore, the monetary policy in a later period suffers from an inflation bias from the ax ante point of view. There are two ways to eliminate this distortion toward successful fiscal reconstruction. One of them is to make the monetary authority more conservative than society in the sense that the price stability weight of monetary authority is higher than that of society. The other way of eliminating the distortion of the resource allocation is to design an institutional ceiling on the debt issuance. The direct ceiling can provide a binding constraint of the public bond issuance for the fiscal authority of Japan because it has accumulated the debt outstanding much more than other countries.

Sustainability, Debt Management, and Public Debt Policy in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainability issues of Japan%u2019s fiscal policy and then to discuss the debt management policy using the theoretical models and numerical studies. We also investigate the desirable coordination of fiscal and monetary authorities toward fiscal reconstruction. We include a potential possibilities of the government bonds in our theoretical model. The public bonds, therefore, cannot be sold when the issuance leads the amount of debt outstanding to be more than a certain level. In this respect, the fiscal authority has to take into account the upper limit of stocks of public debt. This possibility of debt default provides the fiscal authority to issue public bonds strategically in an earlier period. A strategic behavior of fiscal authority induces the monetary authority, in a later period, to boost output and raise seigniorage revenues to eliminate the distortion of resource allocation due to the limitation on debt issuance. Therefore, the monetary policy in a later period suffers from an inflation bias from the ax ante point of view. There are two ways to eliminate this distortion toward successful fiscal restoration. One of them is to make the monetary authority more conservative than society in the sense that the price stability weight of monetary authority is higher than that of society. The other way of eliminating the distortion of the resource allocation is to design an institutional ceiling on the debt issuance. The direct ceiling can provide a binding constraint of the public bond issuance for the fiscal authority of Japan because it has accumulated the debt outstanding much more than other countries.

"Sustainability, Debt Management, and Public Debt Policy in Japan"

The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainability issues of Japan's fiscal policy and then to discuss the debt management policy using theoretical models and numerical studies. We also investigate the desirable coordination of fiscal and monetary authorities toward fiscal reconstruction. We include a potential possibilities of the government bonds in our theoretical model The public bonds, therefore, cannot be sold when the issuance leads the amount of debt outstanding to be more than a certain level. In this respect, the fiscal authority has to take into account the upper limit of stocks of public debt. This possibility of debt default provides the fiscal authority to issue public bonds strategically in an earlier period. A strategic behavior of fiscal authority induces the monetary authority, in a later period, to boost output and raise seigniorage revenues to eliminate the distortion of resource allocation due to the limitation on debt issuance. Therefore, the monetary policy in a later period suffers from an inflation bias from the ax ante point of view. There are two ways to eliminate this distortion toward successful fiscal reconstruction. One of them is to make the monetary authority more conservative than society in the sense that the price stability weight of monetary authority is higher than that of society. The other way of eliminating the distortion of the resource allocation is to design an institutional ceiling on the debt issuance. The direct ceiling can provide a binding constraint of the public bond issuance for the fiscal authority of Japan because it has accumulated the debt outstanding much more than other countries.

Study on Flow Characteristics of Oil Viscosity Pump for Refrigerant Compressors

 Oil viscosity pumps are typically used for reciprocating compressors in household refrigerators to lubricate the compression mechanism. The oil viscosity pump is a simple structure in which a spiral groove is on the shaft surface. The lubricating oil supplied by this pump has a large influence on the performance and reliability, but the oil viscosity pump is designed based on the experience. We investigated the flow characteristics of the oil viscosity pump from theoretical and experimental study. We performed the study based on the assumption that the oil flow inside spiral groove was steady with two-dimensional viscous flow. As a result, we found that the pressure-flow rate (P-Q) characteristics has a linear relationship when the length of the spiral grooves, the rotational speed of the shaft, and the depth of the spiral grooves are in the limited area

Homovanillic acid in human cerebrospinal fluid.--Its concentration gradient and reduced levels in patients with epilepsy

The homovanillic acid (HVA) concentrations in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were determined in 38 epileptic and 39 control patients. The mean concentration of HVA was 23.9 ng/ml +/- 2.8 SEM for the epileptic group and 30.2 ng/ml +/- 2.1 SEM for the control group, respectively. Thus, HVA was significandly reduced in the patients with epilepsy compared with the controls. The mean HVA in the female patients was higher than in the male patients in both groups but this failed to reach statistical significance. There was no apparent relationship between the degree of reduced HVA concentration and other clinical indexes of the epilepsy (age, type and frequency of seizures, and anticonvulsant medication). For the determination of concentration gradient of HVA three fractions of the spinal CSF were obtained from 11 patients. A pronounced gradient of HVA concentration was found with a ratio of 1 : 1.46 : 1.97 for the first, second and third fractions. This suggests that a standardized conditions for collecting CSF should be employed to study HVA levels in humans.</p

Simultaneous Use of Both Bilateral Intralaminar and Pedicle Screws for C2 Stabilization

Four patients underwent stabilization surgery using both bilateral C2 pedicle screw (PS) and intralaminar screw (LS). Neural and vascular injury resulting from incorrect screw placement was assessed using computed tomography (CT). The evaluation of bone union was assessed by lateral flexion-extension X-ray films and CT. The symptoms were improved in all patients. There were no intraoperative complications. Furthermore, there were no cases of neurological worsening or vascular injury from incorrect screw placement. Failure of instrumentation or screw loosening during the follow-up period did not occur in any of the patients. All cases had accomplished bone union at the final follow-up. Theoretically, the stabilization technique using both bilateral C2 PS and LS at the same time can provide more stability than any other single technique. Simultaneous use of both bilateral C2 PS and LS is potentially a good choice for surgical repair

Compressor with Turning-Paired Vane and Piston

With the aim of energy saving of room air conditioners, we are addressing higher efficiency of the rotary compressor that is used most in the world. We focused on a new rotary compressor equipped with a mechanism to restrict the rolling motion of the piston, and performed the dynamics analysis. The new rotary compressor has a small pillar at the tip of the vane and constitutes a turning pair of vane and piston, and it limits the rolling motion of the piston. By means of limiting the piston rotation, the heat transfer to the suction process from the compression chamber will be suppressed, and we can expect higher compression efficiency. Before examining the compression efficiency, we performed the dynamics analysis of this new rotary compressor and examined the forces and dynamic behavior of the components, and the mechanical efficiency of the compressor. Then we have following results. (1)We can clarify the contact point between the vane tip and piston in the turning pair by considering the equilibrium of forces and moments acting on the vane. (2)By reducing the diameter of the pillar at the vane tip, the vane tip friction loss is reduced, and the mechanical efficiency is improved. (3)The new rotary compressor has less vane tip friction loss and on the other hand greater friction loss between the vane side and the cylinder in comparison to the rolling piston rotary compressors. As a result, both compressors have almost the same mechanical efficiency