A Role of public finance in the Ghatak and Jiang model a comment

This paper proposes that a public finance system can Pareto-improve a version of the economy in Ghatak and Jiang (2002). Our discussion relates to the controversial issue of wealth inequality in Japan. Its implications are important for consideration during administrative reform by the Koizumi Cabinet.

Japan's Intangible Capital and Valuation of Corporations in a Neoclassical Framework

This paper estimates the economic value in the 1980s and 1990s of corporate as sets in Japan,including both tangible and intangible as sets, based on the neo-classical framework of McGrattan and Prescott(2005). Our estimates use anew micro-data set that comprises the accounting statements of all listed, non-financial companies in Japan. We find that in 1981-86, a period that immediately preceded Japan's so-called "bubble economy", our assessed value of corporate productiveas-sets, net of the value of corporate debt,is approximately equal to the actual stock market value of Japanese corporate equity. The fnding differs from previous results based on studies of aggregated at a sets or based on studies of micro data sets that neglected intangible capital. We also show that the Japanese ratio of the amount of intangible capital stock to the amount of tangible capital stock is comparable to the analogous ratios for the U.S. and U.K.

Measurement of Social Preference from Utility-Based Choice Experiments

Ever since the classical works of Smith and Veblen, economists have recognized that individuals care about their relative positions and status in addition to their own consumption. This paper addresses a new framework of choice experiments in order to specify the shape of utility function with preference externalities. Theoretical studies on social preference, which are conducted without estimating or calibrating important parameters of social preference and put forward various propositions in accordance with the parameters assumed, can refer to the parameters estimated in this paper. Our findings complement those of happiness studies which support the view of social preference. We show that preference externality is, on average, characterized by jealousy among Japanese respondents, and also that heterogeneity in social preference parameters is driven by differences in income levels, age, and gender.

Public versus Private Education in an Endogenous Growth Model with Social Status

This paper investigates which of publicly financed education or privately financed education is favorable for growth in an economy where development of new technology by specialists is the engine of growth and social rewards are bestowed upon growth enhancing activities. We show that when one quests for social status, the privately financed education could improve the allocation of human resource and the growth rate could become higher in the private finance regime than in the public finance regime.Allocation of Human Resource

Education, Innovation, and Long-Run Growth

This study augments a second-generation Schumpeterian growth model to employ human capital explicitly. We clarify the general-equilibrium interactions of subsidy policies to R&D and human capital accumulation in a unified framework. Despite a standard intuition that subsidizing these growth-enhancing activities is always mutually growth promoting, we find asymmetric effects for subsidies on R&D and those on education. Our theoretical result of asymmetric policy effects provides an important empirical caveat that empirical researchers may find false negative relationships between education subsidies and the output growth rate, if they merely rely on the standard human capital model.ISER discussion paperFebruary 2009, Revised March 2009, Secondly Revised November 2011(Originally entitled "Complementary Relationships between Education and Innovation"

Difference or Ratio : Implication of Status Preference on Stagnation

October 2012, Revised March 2013 Secondly Revised January 201

Local Home Environment Externality is a Source of Indeterminacy

ISER discussion paperNovember 2008 Revised July 200