The Role of Central Bank in the Recession in the Case of Japan's Recession

Japan's economy is expanding and expected to continue expanding moderately, according to Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments released by the Bank of Japan in July 2007.The BOJ declared the change of policy stance at the Monetary Policy Meeting held on July 14, 2006. The BOJ had to tackle a recession which the Japanese economy had not experienced before. The economy was on the verge of financial panic, especially in 1997 and 1998, when major financial institutions had failed. It reminded us of the recurrence of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The article will clarify how the Japanese economy fell into a serious depression with a reflection on the role of the BOJ in the emergence of prolonged depression. We will also estimate the interest rate elasticity of money demand in order to identify whether or not the Japanese economy was in a liquidity trap in the prolonged recession. We will use the EGARCH model to quantify the financial anxieties. The conclusion will suggest that the BOJ should have paid more attention to the behavior of money stock at the early stage of depression.bubble, money stock, financial anxieties, liquidity trap

X-Ray Observations of the W51 Complex with Suzaku

We present a detailed analysis of the X-ray emission from the middle-aged supernova remnant W51C and star-forming region W51B with Suzaku. The soft X-ray emission from W51C is well represented by an optically thin thermal plasma in the non-equilibrium ionization state with a temperature of $\sim$0.7 keV. The elemental abundance of Mg is significantly higher than the solar value. We find no significant feature of an over-ionized plasma in W51C. The hard X-ray emission is spatially coincident with the molecular clouds associated with W51B, overlapping with W51C. The spectrum is represented by an optically thin thermal plasma with a temperature of $\sim$5 keV or a powerlaw model with a photon index of $\sim$2.2. The emission probably has diffuse nature since its luminosity of 1$\times10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the 0.5-10 keV band cannot be explained by the emission from point sources in this region. We discuss the possibility that the hard X-ray emission comes from stellar winds of OB stars in W51B or accelerated particles in W51C.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

近年のわが国における貨幣需要関数の安定性について : 共和分分析を中心として

関西学院大

わが国におけるフィッシャー仮説の検証 ―構造変化を考慮した共和分分析を中心として―

要旨　フィッシャー仮説とは、実質利子率が一定で、合理的期待を仮定するとき、名目利子率とインフレ率は1対1の対応をすることを指す。近年の日本銀行の政策では、2％の「インフレ目標」を掲げ、長期国債を買い入れる量的緩和を実施したが、併せて名目利子率ゼロを継続するとも宣言している。この政策は、名目利子率をゼロに据え置いて2％のインフレ率を実現しようとしており、実質利子率をマイナス2％に押し下げることに等しい。つまり、フィッシャー仮説が成立すると、このような政策は効果を持たなくなる。　そこで、本稿では、日本における1980年第1四半期から2021年第3四半期までのデータで、構造変化を考慮した共和分分析を用いて、フィッシャー仮説の検証を行った。　その結果、1993年に構造変化が生じており、かつ2つの期間とも、名目利子率とインフレ率の両変数間に共和分関係があった。また、1993年以前には、名目利子率とインフレ率の間に1対1の関係が発見されたが、それ以降の期間にはインフレ率の1％の低下が0.211％以下の名目利子率の低下を生じるという「部分的フィッシャー効果」があるという結果を示した

Evaluation of the effects of mastication and swallowing on gastric motility using electrogastrography

Objectives : The influence of mastication and swallowing on gastric motor function was evaluated by electrogastrography (EGG) and abdominal ultrasonography. Methods: The subjects were 30 elderly patients with tubal feeding without mastication and swallowing (T group) and 30 elderly controls who processed food by mastication and swallowing (C group). Gastric motor function was percutaneously examined before and after the ingestion of 250 ml of a liquid diet using an electrogastrograph (NIPRO EGG, A&D, Tokyo, Japan). The cross-sectional area of the gastric antrum was measured at 1 and 30min after the start of ingestion of the liquid diet by external ultrasonography of the abdomen, and the gastric excretion function was evaluated. Furthermore, the spectral analysis of heart rate variability was performed using Holter electrocardiograms before and after ingestion. The low frequency power (LF power, 0.04-0.15 Hz), high frequency power (HF power, 0.15-0.40 Hz), and the LF/HF ratio were determined. Results: The peak amplitude at 3 cycles perminute (cpm)was significantly increased after ingestion in the C and T groups (p<0.05), and the ratio of increase was significantly lower in the T group (p<0.05). The mean amplitude for the brady-gastria and tachy-gastria was significantly higher in the T group than in the C group (p<0.05). The gastric excretion function, as evaluated by external ultrasonography of the abdomen, was significantly lower in the T group than in the C group (p<0.05). An analysis of heart rate variability demonstrated that the HF power, a parameter of parasympathetic activity, after ingestion was significantly higher in the C group than in the T group (p<0.05). No changes in LF power or LF/HF ratio, parameters of sympathetic activity, were induced by ingestion in either the C or T groups. Conclusions: The parasympathetic nerve dominantly controls gastric motor function, but autonomic nervous activity is reduced in patients who are unable to masticate and swallow food, resulting in adverse effects on gastric motor function and excretion function. Mastication and swallowing not only prepare food for passage from the oral cavity to the esophagus but are also important in terms of subsequent events that occur in stomach. It has been proposed that autonomic nervous activity might be involved in mastication and swallowing