Evidence of a Growing Inequality in Work Timing Using a Japanese Time-Use Survey

Using data from a Japanese time use survey, we show a noteworthy increase in the share of employees working unusual hours (late night and early morning) over a period of a decade since the mid 1990s. When controlling for changes in hours worked, however, we find that the notable increase in the fraction of people working unusual hours was for low-income nonregular employees (part time, temporary and contract workers), while relatively higher-income regular employees' work timing remains stable. These observations imply that there is a trend of diversification of work timing in Japan between regular and nonregular employees. A possible explanation is that the increase in the average hours worked per weekday by regular employees, possibly because of the spread of the five-day workweek since the 1990s, increased the demand for services and goods during unusual hours, as they returned home. An Oaxaca-Blinder type decomposition suggests that such an increase in the average hours worked by regular employees explains partially the rise in the employment rate of nonregular employees at unusual times. We also suggest that the negative income effect induced low-wage nonregular employees to take jobs at night to earn a wage premium.

Silk project : an example of regional cooperation

PowerPoint presentationA national research and education network (NREN) is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education. The presentation outlines the ‘Silk Project’ development of NREN for Japan and Eurasia

Developing a sustainable institutional repository : a Keio University case study

DRFIC2008 Session 2. Repository SustainabilityDRFIC2008 セッション2:持続可能なリポジトリの展開を目指して 事例報告

The Effect of Moving to a Territorial Tax System on Profit Repatriation: Evidence from Japan

In an increasingly globalized world, the design of international tax systems in terms of taxation on foreign corporate incomes has received much attention from policymakers and economists alike. In the past, Japan\u27s worldwide tax system taxed foreign source income upon repatriation. However, to stimulate dividend repatriations from Japanese-owned foreign affiliates, Japan introduced a foreign dividend exemption in 2009 that exempts dividends remitted by Japanese-owned foreign affiliates to their parent firms from home taxation. This paper examines the effect of this dividend exemption on profit repatriations by Japanese multinationals. We find that the response of Japanese-owned affiliates to the dividend exemption was heterogeneous. More particularly, foreign affiliates with a large stock of retained earnings were generally more responsive to the reform and significantly increased dividend payments to their parent firms in response to the enactment of the dividend exemption system. Dividend payments by these affiliates also became more sensitive to withholding tax rates on dividends levied by host countries under the new exemption system.JEL Classification Codes: H25, F23http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/hasegawa_makoto

A study on the living condition and the housing problem in central Gondar, Ethiopia

This paper aims at analysis of the housing conditions of a historical city Gondar in Ethiopia. Although rich in historical relics within a historical core formulated in the course of an imperial period since the 17^ century, the central zone of Gondar is suffering from the deterioration of urban blocks generated by a series of modern master planning since 1930\u27s. Repeated field surveys in situ revealed the typological nature of built environment as well as social characteristics of inhabitants residing there. Dominance of female population, juxtaposition of shady occupation and historical monuments, concentration of the poor depending on the informal sector, are the main points abstracted from the surveys. Coordination within public housing is the key for the amelioration of actual situation

Japan\u27s Monetary Policy Transition, 1955-2005

経済学 / EconomicsThis paper surveys the postwar evolution of Bank of Japan (BOJ) monetary policy. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, we describe the changes in the money supply process in response to changing institutional constraints. We focus on the transition from quantitative to qualitative control mechanisms, illuminating, in particular, the important role of the BOJ\u27s lending guidance (window guidance) in the early periods and financial liberalization in subsequent periods. Monetary policy reaction functions are estimated and used to verify major changes in policy instruments, targets, and indicators.JEL Classification Codes: E42, E52, E51http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/rhodes_james

Cooperation in Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma with Outside Options

経済学 / EconomicsIn many repeated interactions, repetition is not guaranteed but instead must be agreed upon. We formulate a model of voluntary repetition by introducing outside　options to a repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma and investigate how the structure of outside options affects the sustainability of mutual cooperation. When the outside　option is deterministic and greater than the value of mutual defection, the lower bound of the discount factors that sustain repeated cooperation is greater than the　one for ordinary repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma, making cooperation more difficult. However,stochastic outside options with the same mean may reduce the lower　bound of discount factors as compared to the deterministic case. This is possible when the stochasticity of the options increases the value of the cooperation phase　more than the value of the punishment phase. Necessary and sufficient conditions for this positive effect are given under various option structures.JEL Classification Codes: C73http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/yasuda_yosuke