Currency Invoicing Decision: New Evidence from a Questionnaire Survey of Japanese Export Firms

There have been only a few studies that empirically examine the firm's decision on price setting or currency invoicing in international trade. This paper is the first study that conducts the questionnaire survey with all manufacturing firms listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange concerning the choice of invoicing currency at a firm level. Questionnaires were sent out to 920 Japanese firms in September 2009 and 227 firms responded. We present the new firm-level evidence on the choice of invoicing currency by destination and by type of trading partner, and also the share of invoicing currency of Japanese production subsidiaries in Asia. By conducting cross-section analysis, we found the following evidences: (1) highly differentiated goods and/or strong competitiveness of the products promote Japanese yen invoicing in exports to all countries, (2) larger share of intra-firm trade in exports promotes importer's currency invoicing in exports to advanced countries, and (3) the production-sales networks of Japanese firms whose Asian production subsidiaries export their final products to other countries/region promote US dollar invoicing in exports to Asian countries

Exchange Rate Exposure and Risk Management: The Case of Japanese Exporting Firms

This paper investigates the relationship between Japanese firms’ exposure to the exchange rate risk and risk management, such as choice of invoicing currency, and financial and operational hedges. The firm’s exposure to the exchange rate risk is estimated by co-movements of the stock prices and exchange rates, following Dominguez (1998) and others. Data on risk management measures—financial and operational hedging, the choice of invoice currency and the price revision strategy (pass-through)—were collected from a questionnaire survey covering all Tokyo Stock Exchange listed firms in 2009. Results show the following: First, firms with greater dependency on sales in foreign markets have greater foreign exchange exposure. Second, the higher the US dollar invoicing share, the greater is the foreign exchange exposure – however, risk is reduced by both financial and operational hedging. Third, yen invoicing reduces foreign exchange exposure. These findings indicate that Japanese firms use a combination of risk management tools to mitigate the degree of exchange rate risk

New Estimates of the Equilibrium Exchange Rate: The case for the Chinese renminbi

We estimate the equilibrium exchange rate (EER) of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar from 1992 to 2008. In contrast to the recent empirical studies on the EER employing a large cross-country analysis, we focus on the supply side real factors in estimating the EER by extending the Yoshikawa (1990) model. To better reflect China's processing exports in the context of growing intra-regional trade in Asia, we incorporate in the empirical analysis the source country breakdown data on import prices and input coefficients of intermediate inputs by constructing an annual new International Input-Output (IIO) table for the period from 1992 to 2008. The results show that the EER of Chinese RMB appreciates sharply from 2005 to 2008, suggesting that the current RMB exchange rate has been substantially undervalued and should be revalued by 65 percent from the year 2000 level. Such sharp appreciation of the EER corresponds to the dramatic increase in China's current account surplus from the mid-2000s, especially against the United States, which is ascribed to the significant improvement of both labor and intermediate input coefficients in China.

Determinants of Currency Invoicing in Japanese Exports: A firm-level analysis

Currency invoicing in Japanese exports has two puzzling patterns concerning an excessively small share of yen invoicing: one is a strong tendency of Japanese firms to choose the importer's currency invoicing in exports to developed countries, and the other is the prevalence of U.S. dollar invoicing in Japanese exports to East Asia even though Japanese firms have built a regional production network over two decades. To address the puzzles, we propose new possible determinants of currency invoicing at a firm-level, based on an interview analysis with Japanese representative exporting firms, and then empirically test them by probit estimation using the unique dataset on the firms' currency invoicing choice by destination. Our novel findings suggest that a surprisingly low share of yen invoicing in Japanese exports even in the 2000s is attributed not only to the growing intra-firm trade through active overseas operations of Japanese firms but also to the unique production/trade structure in Asia mainly established by Japanese electronics companies.

Mixed Thymoma in a Young Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

A mass with a diameter of 1.5 cm was found in the thymus of a 4-year and 3-month-old male cynomolgus monkey. Microscopically, the mass consisted of two different patterns of proliferation, dense or fascicular proliferation of elongated spindle cells in a sporadic storiform pattern and dense proliferation of thymic cortex-like lymphoid cells in which the multifocal pale nests resembling the thymic medulla were distributed. In these pale nests, large dendriform cells sometimes forming Hassall’s corpuscles were present. The proliferating spindle cells were positive for cytokeratin. The lymphoid cells in the mass were positive for CD3. We concluded that the mass consisted of the neoplastic thymic epithelium with thymocytes proliferation containing medullary differentiation. The mass was diagnosed as a mixed thymoma according to the WHO classification of thymomas in humans. Mixed thymoma is characterized as a mixture of two types of proliferative lesions, spindle-shaped epithelial proliferation and a lymphocyte predominant lesion with or without medullary differentiation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report concerning thymoma in monkeys

Increase in claudin-2 expression by an EGFR/MEK/ERK/c-Fos pathway in lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells

AbstractIn human adenocarcinoma, claudin-2 expression is higher than that in normal lung tissue, but the regulatory mechanism of its expression has not been clarified. In human adenocarcinoma A549 cells, claudin-2 level time-dependently increased under the control conditions. In contrast, claudin-1 expression remained constant for 24h. The concentration of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in medium time-dependently increased, which was inhibited by matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor II, an inhibitor of MMP-1, 3, 7, and 9. MMP inhibitor II decreased claudin-2 and phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) levels, which were recovered by EGF. Both claudin-2 and p-ERK1/2 levels were decreased by EGF neutralizing antibody, EGF receptor (EGFR) siRNA, AG1478, an inhibitor of EGFR, U0126, an inhibitor of MEK, and the exogenous expression of dominant negative-MEK. These results suggest that EGF is secreted from A549 cells by MMP and increases claudin-2 expression mediated via the activation of an EGFR/MEK/ERK pathway. The inhibition of the signaling pathway decreased phosphorylated c-Fos and nuclear c-Fos levels. The introduction of c-Fos siRNA decreased claudin-2 level without affecting claudin-1. The promoter activity of human claudin-2 was decreased by AG1478 and U0126. Furthermore, the activity was decreased by the deletion or mutation of the AP-1 binding site of claudin-2 promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and avidin–biotin conjugated DNA assays showed that c-Fos binds to the AP-1 binding site. We suggest that a secreted EGF up-regulates the transcriptional activity of claudin-2 mediated by the activation of an EGFR/MEK/ERK/c-Fos pathway in A549 cells

Histopathology of Incidental Findings in Cynomolgus Monkeys (Macaca Fascicularis) Used in Toxicity Studies

The purpose of our publication is to widely communicate pictures of spontaneous findings occurring in cynomolgus monkeys. Focal lymphoplasmacytic infiltration is commonly seen in the general organs. The frequency and severity of these lesions may be influenced by the administration of drugs with an effect on the immune system. Lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in the lamina propria of the stomach is also frequently seen in cynomolgus monkeys, and it is caused mainly by a Helicobacter pylori infection. Various degrees of brown pigments are observed in various organs, and it is possible to distinguish the material of the pigments by its morphological features and site. A focal/segmental glomerular lesion is occasionally seen in a section of the kidney, and the minimal lesion has no influence on the urinalysis. We showed the common glomerular lesions in HE-stained sections, as well as in PAM- or PAS-stained sections, for understanding the details. Young and pubertal monkeys are usually used in toxicity studies; therefore, understanding various maturation stages of the genital system is important. In particular, the female genital system needs to be understood in the morphology, because their cyclic changes are different from other laboratory animals. Thus, we present the normal features of the cyclic changes of the female genital organs. Furthermore, we provide more information on spontaneous findings in cynomolgus monkeys for exact diagnoses in toxicity studies

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