Real GDP in pre-war East Asia: a 1934–36 benchmark purchasing power party comparison with the U.S.

This article provides estimates of purchasing power parity (PPP) converters for expenditure side GDP of Japan/China, Japan/U.S. and China/U.S. in 1934-36 through a detailed matching of prices for more than 50 types of goods and services in private consumption and about 20 items or sectors for investment and government expenditure. Linking with the earlier studies on the price levels of Taiwan and Korea relative to Japan, we derive the mid-1930s benchmark PPP adjusted per capita income of Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea at 32, 11, 23, and 12 percent of the U.S. level respectively. These estimates correct the consistent downward bias in East Asian income levels based on market exchange rate conversions. Compared with Angus Maddison's estimates based on the 1990 benchmark back-projection, our current-price based result are 18 and 44 percent lower for Japan and Korea, and 4 and 10 percent higher for Taiwan and China respectively in the mid-1930s. We develop a preliminary theoretical and empirical framework to examine the possible source of the biases in the back-projection method. The article ends with a discussion on historical implications of our findings on the initial conditions and long-term growth dynamics in East Asia. Copyright � 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation � International Association for Research in Income and Wealth 2007.

The Current Status and Future Prospects of KAGRA, the Large-Scale Cryogenic Gravitational Wave Telescope Built in the Kamioka Underground

International audienceKAGRA is a gravitational-wave (GW) detector constructed in Japan with two unique key features: It was constructed underground, and the test-mass mirrors are cooled to cryogenic temperatures. These features are not included in other kilometer-scale detectors but will be adopted in future detectors such as the Einstein Telescope. KAGRA performed its first joint observation run with GEO600 in 2020. In this observation, the sensitivity of KAGRA to GWs was inferior to that of other kilometer-scale detectors such as LIGO and Virgo. However, further upgrades to the detector are ongoing to reach the sensitivity for detecting GWs in the next observation run, which is scheduled for 2022. In this article, the current situation, sensitivity, and future perspectives are reviewed.</jats:p