The Global Artificial Intelligence Revolution Challenges Patent Eligibility Laws

This Article examines patent eligibility jurisprudence of artificial intelligence in the United States, Europe, France, Japan, and Singapore. It identifies de facto requirements of patent-eligible artificial intelligence. It also examines the adaptability of patent eligibility jurisprudence to adapt with the growth of artificial intelligence

Correlation between Worker Demographics and Worker Access to Firm-provided Family-friendly Policies in Japan

This paper identifies the workers who have access to family-friendly policies, and the correlation between these policies and worker demographics, using data from the Survey of Company Fringe Benefits. The study revealed that while women and low-income earners are more likely to use family-care-related policies, men and high-income earners are more likely to use policy (8) (flexible and/or discretionary working hours). Unlike Western countries, where occupation and income are significantly correlated with the use of these polices, the findings of this study indicate that human-capital-related variables are not correlated with the family-friendly policies, except for policy (8).family-friendly, fringe benefits, gender, leave, policy

Bayesian Estimation of Spatial Externalities Using Regional Production Function: The Case of China and Japan

This paper used regional panel data for Chinese provinces from 1979 to 2003, and for Japanese prefectures from 1955 to 1998, to estimate the spatial externalities (or spatial multiplier effects) using a production function and Bayesian methodology, and to investigate the long-run behavior of the spatial externalities of each country. According to the estimation results, China's spatial externalities increased its domestic production significantly after 1994, which tended to increase until 2003. Before 1993, however, its spatial externalities were not significant. Japan's spatial externalities showed fluctuating values throughout the sample period. Furthermore, the movement of the spatial externalities was correlated with Japan's business conditions: the externalities showed a high value in the economic boom, and a low value in the economic depression. This could mean that spatial externalities depend mainly on business conditions.Spatial Externalities; Bayesian Estimation; Production Function

Bayesian estimation of spatial externalities using regional production function: the case of China and Japan

This paper used regional panel data for Chinese provinces from 1979 to 2003, and for Japanese prefectures from 1955 to 1998, to estimate the spatial externalities (or spatial multiplier effects) using a production function and Bayesian methodology, and to investigate the long-run behavior of the spatial externalities of each country. According to the estimation results, China's spatial externalities increased its domestic production significantly after 1994, which tended to increase until 2003. Before 1993, however, its spatial externalities were not significant. Japan's spatial externalities showed fluctuating values throughout the sample period. Furthermore, the movement of the spatial externalities was correlated with Japan's business conditions: the externalities showed a high value in the economic boom, and a low value in the economic depression. This could mean that spatial externalities correlate mainly with business conditions.Spatial externalities, Bayesian estimation, Production function

The sustainability of trade balances in Sub-Saharan Africa: panel cointegration tests with cross-section dependence

This paper investigates the sustainability of trade balances in the Sub-Saharan African regions, using both the panel unit root (IPS) test proposed by Im et al. (2003) and the cross-sectionally augmented version of the IPS (CIPS test) suggested by Pesaran (2007), where the former test is based on the assumption of cross-section independence and the latter allows for it. On the one hand, the empirical results based on the IPS test indicate that the balance of trade in Sub-Saharan African regions is sustainable. On the other hand, the empirical results of the CIPS test reveal that it is not. Since cross-section dependence was recognized using the CD test developed by Pesaran (2004), the empirical results based on the IPS test could be spurious.sustainability; trade balances; Sub-Saharan Africa; CIPS test

Small sample properties of CIPS panel unit root test under conditional and unconditional heteroscedasticity

This paper used Monte Carlo simulations to analyze the small sample properties of cross-sectionally augmented panel unit root test (CIPS test). We considered situations involving two types of time-series heteroskedasticity (unconditional and ARCH) in the unobserved common factor and idiosyncratic error term. We found that the CIPS test could be extremely robust versus the two types of heteroskedasticity in the unobserved common factor. However, we found under-size distortion in the case of unconditional heteroskedasticity in the idiosyncratic error term, and conversely, over-size distortion in the case of ARCH. Furthermore, we observed a tendency for its over-size distortion to moderate with low volatility persistence in the ARCH process and exaggerate with high volatility persistence.panel unit root test; CIPS test; heteroskedasticity; cross-section dependence

Has China's Interregional Capital Mobility Been Low? A Spatial Econometric Estimation of the Feldstein-Horioka Equation

We conducted a Feldstein-Horioka test for the degree of China's inter-provincial capital mobility each year from 1978 to 2007 using the spatial error model (SEM), a model of spatial econometrics considering spatial dependence, and a data set reflecting revision of historical national and provincial accounts after China's first economic census in 2004. We found that the likelihood ratio test rejected the null of no spatial error correlation, or the appropriateness of the standard OLS model (OLSM), for 17 out of 30 years and that the Akaike information criterion selected the SEM over the OLSM for 20 years. Our estimations demonstrate that the mobility was high until the late 80's, fell to a bottom in the mid-90's, recovered, peaked in the early 2000's, and has weakened recently, even though it has been argued that mobility has been low since 1978 reform, leaving the impression that it has consistently been low.fiscal and financial reform; Feldstein-Horioka paradox; spatial econometrics

Containment and equivalence of weighted automata: Probabilistic and max-plus cases

This paper surveys some results regarding decision problems for probabilistic and max-plus automata, such as containment and equivalence. Probabilistic and max-plus automata are part of the general family of weighted automata, whose semantics are maps from words to real values. Given two weighted automata, the equivalence problem asks whether their semantics are the same, and the containment problem whether one is point-wise smaller than the other one. These problems have been studied intensively and this paper will review some techniques used to show (un)decidability and state a list of open questions that still remain