Estimation of a Simultaneous Model of Married Women's Labor Force Participation and Fertility in Urban Japan

A strong and negative correlation between married women's labor force participation and fertility has been witnessed in Japan in past decades. Relative to empirical studies of a traditional single equation on female labor supply, there exist few econometric studies dealing explicitly witha possible interdependency between married women's labor supply and fertility behaviors in urban Japan. Using the recently published 1980 Population Census of Japan, we have estimated a simultaneous-equation model of married women's labor force participation and fertility in urban Japan. Our model shows very satisfactory results to explain the negative correlation between those variables based on a method of 2SLS. Estimated labor supply elasticities for married women with respect to their fertility rates, wife's labor earnings, and male labor earnings are -0.67, 0.23, and -1.76 at the sample means, respectively. On the other hand, estimated elasticities of fertility with respect to married women's labor force participation and family income are -0.31 and 0.23, respectively. We find some of these elasticities for Japanese married women very comparable to those of married women in the United States.

Part-time Employment of Married Women and Fertility in Urban Japan

Previous studies of female labor force participation in Japan often show that the estimates of female wage rates are "negative" in their single-equation models of labor supply. Based on the common belief that the substitution effect dominates the income effect for female labor supply, to disentangle the problem of the inconsistency is, therefore, necessary for the purpose of predicting the behavior of female labor supply and for guiding policy actions. In this paper, we have estimated a logit model of married women's part-time employment and a fertility equation in the context of a simultaneous-equation model. By specifically differentiating part-time employed married women from full-time employed married women,we find that the structural coefficients of the part-time labor supply are significantly different from those of the full-time labor supply in terms of elasticity. However, contrary to the result of married women's full-time employment, we find little interdependency between married women's decisions to work as part-time employees and their fertility in urban Japan.

The Allocation of Time: Young Versus Elderly Households in Japan

Our study shows that the household production theory illuminates the behavior of households in the allocation of time and consumption expenditures. Among the noteworthy findings derived from our data, the various household non-market time allocations (consequently, market labor supply) cannot be separated from consumption expenditures. An increase in market wage rates for both young and elderly households reduces their time spent on household nonmarket activities, such as child care, medical care, and listening to the radio and watching TV. The high opportunity costs of waiting at the hospital clearly discourage working people from visiting the hospital. These results show not a few similarities between the household non-market time allocation in Japan and that to be found in the U.S.

Social Security and Earlier Retirement in Japan: Cross-Sectional Evidence

The estimated elasticity of the probability of retirement with respect to social security retirement benefits declines as individuals age. The negative impact of social security retirement benefits on full-time workers is much greater than the impact on part-time workers for all age groups. Earnings test in Japan is, therefore, more effective on full-time workers than part-time workers among the elderly. Social security retirement benefits also provide the elderly with an incentive to prolong their unemployment status. The marginal effect of the market unemployment rate on full-time work is significantly larger than that on part-time work and both effects are negative. The e1asticit.y of retirement with respect to the market unemployment rate for those in their 60's is two to three times larger than those aged 70 and over. Retirement of those in their GO'S is quite responsive to changes in labor market condition.

The Effects of Japanese Social Security Retirement Benefits on Personal Savings and Elderly Labor Force Behavior

Using Japanese annual time series data covering the period from 1946to 1982, this paper shows that social security wealth depresses personal savings. The effect was a reduction of approximately 143 thousand yen per capita wealth in real terms from 1970 to 1980. However, declining labor force participation of the elderly (i.e., earlier retirement), stimulates personal saving by an estimated 12 thousand yen over the same period. The study found that the benefit effect dominates the retirement effect. In addition, this study has identified a negative interdependency between the personal savings and labor retirement behaviors of the elderly; that is, an individual saves more before retirement if he expects to stay a shorter time in the labor market, and vice versa.

Nutrition and Infant Health in Japan

The model presented in this paper emphasizes the importance of the mother's nutritional intake as a determinant of infant health. Using cross-sectional market averages for 1980 and 1981 in Japan, we find that the nutrient intake of the mother during pregnancy is a potential determinant of neonatal and infant mortality in Japan, with increased consumption of calcium and iron leading to improved birth outcomes. Using the results obtained from the estimation of neonatal and infant mortality production functions, we note that increases in the prices of food items, in particular milk and meat, would lead to increases in neonatal and infant mortality rates. We discover that the availability of abortion in Japan, unlike in the U.S., is positively related to mortality rates, although never significantly. Finally, we see that cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and poor environmental quality all have strongly adverse effects on newborn survival outcomes in Japan.

A Multinominal Logistic Approach to the Labor Force Behavior of JapaneseMarried Women

Using a multanornial logistic approach, we analyze the inter-dependencies among the labor force participation decisions of married women an Japan. These decisions are working part-time,working full-time, being unemployed (in the labor market but unable to find work), and not participating. Our focus is on the interdependency between the decision to work part-time and the decision to work full-time. Our results indicate that married women working full-time view part-time work as a good substitute, but the reverse is not observed. We also obtain estimates of the own-wage elasticity for both forms of participation and find that part-time labor force particicipation of Japanese married women is substantially more elastic than that of their full-time counterparts. These findings reinforce the view that married women in Japan with loose ties to the labor market are quite responsive to changes in the returns to work.

Social Security, Savings, and Labor Supply of the Elderly in Japan

The study examines the controversial, inconsistent empirical results of the effect of social security on personal savings and analyzes the interdependency in the context of social security between the personal savings and labor supply behavior of elderly workers. Very few studies in this field have been done, and it has not theoretically and empirically been accomplished yet in Japan. Time-series data are used for 1946-1982, and the methods of technique are ordinary least squares and a simultaneous-equation model in the life cycle framework. The study finds that social security affects personal savings and that the benefit effect dominates the retirement effect concerning the hypothesized dual effects. The study also identifies an interdependency between personal savings and the labor force participation of the elderly in Japan

Effectiveness of Government Policy: An Experience from a National HealthCare System

This paper examines the trade-off between the length of treatment days and the units of service provided per day for elderly patients in the context of the initiative taken by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan to discourage lengthy hospital treatment and/or stay by elderly patients. By using three leading diseases among the elderly in Japan (cancer, heart related disease and mental illness) and separating care utilization into an episode by types of treatment, our results suggest that the government measures function but they do not effectively work to reduce increases in medical expenditures by the elderly under the fee-for-service basis. The evidence shows the interdependency between days and quantity of services, and the larger impact of services on days than days on services. Providers are more able to raise their revenue by additional services, than by additional treatment days, under the government's current cost containment policy toward the elderly care. For the so-called skilled type of treatment services (injection, general treatment, consultation and operation), the results on all elderly ages 65 and over without disease classification show some statistically significant positive impact on length of treatment in days and quantity of services provided per day. For the so-called material type of service (medication and examination), medical service providers are likely to prescribe more drugs as the price of drugs falls under the current strict drug price control by the Japanese government.