Macroeconomic Impacts of Aging in Japan on the Balance of Current Accounts

This paper investigates questions regarding the saving rates by age brackets and aggregate savings, and then conducts a simulation analysis of the current account, from the I-S balances of households, corporations and the government. Saving rates of the old (65 years old and above) with publicly available data are high because of a selection bias in household head, that excludes the old living with younger family members and being non-head of the household. The paper estimates the true saving rates by age brackets rather than of household head's age brackets with taking the non-head households' member into account. Estimated saving rates of the old are still positive (about 10% to 20% which are less than those of the young) even after adjusting for the bias. The impact of aging on the aggregate saving rates will not be large if the future old people continue to save as the current old people. We forecast the current account in several scenarios, using data of demographic changes, the estimated aggregate saving rates, and the estimated interest payments of government bonds. It is of our particular interest whether the current account will turn to be negative by the rapid demographic change. It is found that the IS balances would remain positive under a condition that the government bond issues would be constrained by fiscal sustainability.

Spanners under the Hausdorff and Fr\'echet Distances

We initiate the study of spanners under the Hausdorff and Fr\'echet distances. We show that any $t$-spanner of a planar point-set $S$ is a $\frac{\sqrt{t^2-1}}{2}$-Hausdorff-spanner and a $\min\{\frac{t}{2},\frac{\sqrt{t^2-t}}{\sqrt{2}}\}$-Fr\'echet spanner. We also prove that for any $t > 1$, there exist a set of points $S$ and an $\varepsilon_1$-Hausdorff-spanner of $S$ and an $\varepsilon_2$-Fr\'echet-spanner of $S$, where $\varepsilon_1$ and $\varepsilon_2$ are constants, such that neither of them is a $t$-spanner

Estimation of Saving Rates by Age Group in Japan using 2019 National Survey of Family Income, Consumption and Wealth

This paper estimates saving rates by age group in case of Japan using 2019 National Survey of Family Income, Consumption and Wealth（ NSFICW）. NSFICW is a large-scale survey with sample size of about 48,000 households for consumption expenditure and about 92,000 households for household revenue. We usually have saving rates of households, but those of individual are needed to investigate the effects of the decreasing birthrate and aging population on the average saving rates of macroeconomic level. This paper estimates the saving rates by age group. Some assumptions of transfers of income within a household are set. The results show the appropriate patterns of saving rates for age group, which are consistent to the life-cycle hypothesis. The saving rates of age after the middle 30s until 50s are in the rage between 30 to 38 percent. Then the rates drop after retirement. The rate over 75 years old is 1.3 percent. We also fi nd that the gap between retirement age and the starting point of public pension benefit brings drop and back of saving rates at the age of 60s

Estimation of Saving Rates by Age Group in Japan Using National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure

This paper estimates saving rates by age group in case of Japan using National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure（NSFIE）. NSFIE is a large scale survey with sample size of about 56,400 households, though it is done once in five years. We usually have saving rates of households, but those of individual are needed to investigate the effects of the decreasing birthrate and aging population on the average saving rates of macroeconomic level. This paper uses data of number of people of younger than 18 years-old, and older than or equal to 65 years-old, then estimates the saving rates by age group in the years of 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. Some assumptions of transfers of income within a household are set. The results show appropriate patterns of saving rates for age group, which are consistent to the life-cycle hypothesis. These patterns are also stable through years

Does Participation in the Setouchi Triennale Foster Social Capital? : A Cross-Sectional Study

This study examined whether participation in an art project was associated with higher social capital (SC). We conducted a questionnaire survey from November 2021 to March 2022 among residents aged 20 years or older of Naoshima, an island in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Before the survey, the Setouchi Triennale had been held on Naoshima four times, starting in 2010. We calculated propensity scores for Triennale participation and performed propensity score matching. We then compared cognitive and structural SC by Triennale participation and found significant differences, respectively. We adopted a conditional ordered logistic regression analysis with propensity score matching for cognitive or structural SC, and found adjusted odd ratios of 2.913 (95%CI, 1.846-4.596) for cognitive SC and 4.535 (95%CI, 2.839-7.244) for structural SC. Our findings suggest that Triennale participation enhanced the cognitive aspect of SC while also building structural SC

Participation in the Setouchi Triennale and the Health of Residents in Naoshima: A Cross-Sectional Study

Arts festivals have become increasingly popular in various parts of Japan in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between arts festival activities participation at the Setouchi Triennale and the health of residents in the town of Naoshima. This was a cross-sectional study. Questionnaires were distributed to all residents of Naoshima who were 20 years old or older (n=2,588). We analyzed responses from 708 people. The associations between arts festival activities participation and health (measured by self-rated health) were analyzed using logistic regression analysis as the primary outcome. Kessler’s psychological distress scale scores were also analyzed in the same manner as the primary outcome. The participating group had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.86 (95% confidence interval: 1.03-3.33) for higher self-rated health compared with those who did not participate. Kessler’s psychological distress scale results showed that the participating group had an adjusted odds ratio of 3.23 (95% confidence interval: 1.19-8.81) for lower psychological distress compared with those who did not participate. In conclusion, arts festival activities participation was associated with higher self-rated health and lower psychological distress. However, caution must be taken in regard to generalizability and causality when interpreting these results

Measurement and interpretation of same-sign W boson pair production in association with two jets in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents the measurement of fducial and diferential cross sections for both the inclusive and electroweak production of a same-sign W-boson pair in association with two jets (W±W±jj) using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is performed by selecting two same-charge leptons, electron or muon, and at least two jets with large invariant mass and a large rapidity diference. The measured fducial cross sections for electroweak and inclusive W±W±jj production are 2.92 ± 0.22 (stat.) ± 0.19 (syst.)fb and 3.38±0.22 (stat.)±0.19 (syst.)fb, respectively, in agreement with Standard Model predictions. The measurements are used to constrain anomalous quartic gauge couplings by extracting 95% confdence level intervals on dimension-8 operators. A search for doubly charged Higgs bosons H±± that are produced in vector-boson fusion processes and decay into a same-sign W boson pair is performed. The largest deviation from the Standard Model occurs for an H±± mass near 450 GeV, with a global signifcance of 2.5 standard deviations

Studies of new Higgs boson interactions through nonresonant HH production in the b¯bγγ fnal state in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in the b ¯bγγ fnal state is performed using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. This analysis supersedes and expands upon the previous nonresonant ATLAS results in this fnal state based on the same data sample. The analysis strategy is optimised to probe anomalous values not only of the Higgs (H) boson self-coupling modifer κλ but also of the quartic HHV V (V = W, Z) coupling modifer κ2V . No signifcant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed upper limit µHH < 4.0 is set at 95% confdence level on the Higgs boson pair production cross-section normalised to its Standard Model prediction. The 95% confdence intervals for the coupling modifers are −1.4 < κλ < 6.9 and −0.5 < κ2V < 2.7, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings except the one under study are fxed to the Standard Model predictions. The results are interpreted in the Standard Model efective feld theory and Higgs efective feld theory frameworks in terms of constraints on the couplings of anomalous Higgs boson (self-)interactions