Is Japan's Innovative Capacity in Decline?

This paper investigates changes in the output and productivity of research and development activities in Japanese manufacturing firms over the 1980s and 1990s. Evidence from aggregate patent and R&D statistics and a micro-level analysis of R&D productivity at the firm-level suggest that there has been a slowdown in the growth of Japanese research productivity in the 1990s. The paper goes on to suggest possible explanations for this slowdown and reviews some of the steps Japanese firms are taking to increase the effectiveness of their R&D. The paper presents empirical evidence concerning the impact of one of these steps the creation of technology alliances with U.S. firms on Japanese innovative output.

Has Japan's innovative capacity declined?

This paper examines Japan's R&D performance since the early 1980s using several complementary modes of analysis. First, we examine evidence from aggregate economic statistics concerning changes in Japanese corporate R&D. Second, we analyze comprehensive data on R&D inputs and outputs for a panel of nearly 200 Japanese firms. Microeconometric analysis of this data set allows us to examine where any downturn in R&D activity is concentrated, what Japanese firms are themselves doing to rectify the downturn in performance, and what effects these steps have had to date. Third, we relate the results of interviews with corporate R&D managers and informed industry observers concerning their perceptions of changes in Japanese innovative capacity and the reasons for these changes. We find evidence, at the micro level and the aggregate level, of a slowdown in the growth rate of Japanese research productivity in the 1990s

Analysis of the Socioeconomic Difficulties Affecting the Suicide Rate in Japan

This paper focuses on the drastic increase observed in the Japanese male suicide rate in the late 1990s and early 2000s and confirms unemployment and personal bankruptcy to be the associated socioeconomic factors behind the male suicide variation. Personal bankruptcy is also confirmed to be significant in the female suicide variation. The relationship is confirmed through a pooled data analysis by a middle-aged group and by prefecture. Further, the paper focused on the association between the unemployment rate and suicide mortality by incorporating the reasons for unemployment in the monthly regression. Next, we identified a significant association between male suicide variations and changes in some of the reasons for being unemployed. The interpretation of the results implies that the risk of unemployment among men has been mitigated by the unemployment insurance rather than the bias in the reasons reported and/or mental disorder in Japan.