Asian Growth Research Institute Repository (AGI) / リポジトリ
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The Effort of an Industrial Association and a Company for the Development of the Workroid Industry: A Case Study of “Workroid Users Association” and “tmsuk”
Get PDF本研究では，少子高齢化と人手不足への対応として，様々な現場で人に代わって仕事をするロボット（ワークロイドと呼ばれる）の産業としての発展に向けた取り組みを検討する。具体的には，ワークロイド業界団体（の原型）として 2021 年 4 月に設立された「一般社団法人ワークロイド・ユーザーズ協会（Workroid Users Association：WUA）」（WUA は主にロボットのユーザー企業・団体および研究者によって構成される），およびワークロイド企業の先駆者であり中小企業でありながら多種多様なワークロイドの開発・製造実績のある「テムザック（tmsuk）社」の事例を取り上げる。これを通して，ワークロイドのユーザー企業や研究者が考案する同産業の発展に向けた方策，およびロボットメーカー側の経営戦略について詳しく検討する。分析の結果，WUA の掲げるワークロイドの開発思想・開発方式の幾つかの項目は短期的には実効性に疑問があること，そしてワークロイドメーカー自身が，単純にロボット単体を売りさばくようなやり方を超えた有効なビジネスモデルを構築することが業界の本格的な立ち上げにとって不可欠であることが指摘される。working pape
Detecting air pollution clusters in Japan: A spatial analysis approach
Get PDFWe rely on satellite data to study the spatial distribution of air pollutants and economic activity for 1650 municipalities of all four main islands of Japan: Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku. Specifically, we analyze atmospheric particulate matter and ozone concentrations, as well as population density, accessibility to cities, and night lights for the above islands. We then make use of principal component analysis, spatial dependence analysis, and methods of regionalization to endogenously classify the municipalities based on their similarity in attributes and geographic location. The spatial dependence analysis provides results which show us the specific sites where the high-value clusters (hot spots) and lowvalue clusters (cold spots) are located. These show a high positive correlation between economic activity and air pollution. Additionally, we perform a regionalization analysis of the variables under consideration, which specifies how the four main islands can be regionalized into six to nine geographical regions or structures, each. The regionalization takes into consideration both pollution levels and economic activity. We then conclude by discussing how these different analyses can complement each other, and how they contribute in finding the locations where policies related to air quality can help in improving the quality of life of the population.research repor
Re-Examining the Convergence of the World Economy: Markov Chain Model with Population Weighting
Get PDFWe study the convergence hypothesis of economic growth relying on recent data. To fix the population size of each country for rank changes, we re-estimate the transition probability matrix by applying a population weight to changes in the income rank of each country. We then find that with no population weighting, the world economy can be divided into two peaks as before. Nevertheless, the population-weighted probability model yields more optimistic results: We divide the world economy into several regions, estimate similar probability models, and calculate the convergence distribution. We then divide the world into the optimistic and pessimistic region. The optimistic region, with high income, is composed of East Asia and Europe; The pessimistic region, with low income, is composed of Sub-Saharan Africa. These two extremes cause the observed twin peaks. The transition information of China and India has a significant impact when considering population weighting. These two countries show rapid economic growth, which produces optimistic results in our population-weighted model.working pape
Is the Age Structure of the Population One of the Determinants of the Household Saving Rate in China? A Spatial Panel Analysis of Provincial Data
Get PDFIn this paper, we use provincial panel data on China for the 2002-19 period to conduct a spatial autocorrelation analysis of household saving rates as well as a dynamic panel analysis of the determinants of household saving rates using a spatial Durbin model. To summarize our main findings, we find that, in China, the household saving rate shows significant positive spatial autocorrelation with an overall “high-high” and “low-low”clustering pattern, that, as predicted by the life-cycle hypothesis, the youth dependency ratio and the old-age dependency ratio have a negative and significant impact on the household saving rate, and that the logarithm of per capita household disposable income, the regional economic growth rate, the share of the urban population, the industrialization rate, and the income disparity between urban and rural areas also have a significant impact on the household saving rate.working pape
The Legacy of Authoritarianism in a Democracy
Get PDFRecent democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarian regimes around the world have rekindled interest in understanding the causes and consequences of authoritarian rule in democracies. In this paper, I study the long-run political consequences of authoritarianism in the context of India, the world’s largest democracy.
Utilizing the unexpected timing of the authoritarian rule imposed in the 1970s and the variation in a draconian policy implemented during this period, I document a sharp decline in the share of the then incumbent party’s, the Indian National Congress, votes and the probability of its candidates winning in subsequent elections. The decline in the incumbent party’s political dominance was not at the expense of a lower voter turnout rate. Instead, a sharp rise in the number of opposition candidates contesting for election in subsequent years played an important role. Finally, I examine the enduring consequences, revealing that confidence in politicians remains low in states where the draconian policy was high. Together, the evidence suggests that authoritarianism in a democracy has a persistent effect on voting behavior, political representation, and confidence in institutions.working pape
旧一電が結ぶ相対契約の内外無差別化による市場の歪みの是正
Get PDF現在、旧一電1の社内契約の多くは、確定数量契約ではなく、日本式の変動数量契約方式である。この方式では、取引上限値が大きく設定されており、かつ市場価格の方が契約価格より高い場合にも、相対取引は市場に転売してはいけないという条項がつく特徴がある2。しかも相対取引の内外無差別性が義務づけられていないため、新電力は、旧一電の発電部門と小売部門との間で結ばれる社内相対契約と同じ条件の契約を結ぶ事はできない。この契約慣習は、新電力にとって、競争条件を不利にして、参入や事業の継続を難しくしている。
本稿は、高い上限量の日本式変動数量契約が、さらに以下の弊害を引き起こしていることを明らかにする。
第1に、市場価格の高騰時にも、旧一電の小売部門は安い社内契約価格で買い続けることができるため、寒波などによって、小売部門による社内需要量が増大すると、発電部門は、それに対する手当てをしなければならないから、その分、発電部門が取引所に供給できる余剰電力は減少する。すなわち、この社内契約方式は、需給逼迫時に、旧一電の発電部門による取引市場への売り入札量の減少を加速させて、新電力が直面する市場価格の上昇を増幅させている。このため、逼迫時にも安い社内契約価格で買い続けることができる旧一電の小売部門と比して、取引所からの調達に依存している新電力は、逼迫時に不利な競争条件に直面する。research repor
Community Support for Foreign Senior Care Workers in Rural Japan and the Factors that Affect Perception of Receiving Care
Get PDFJapanese senior care demands have seen significant growth over the last several decades from a dramatic increase in the senior demographic (+65 in age), a high senior concentration in the current Japanese society brought about by age longevity, and the improved quality standard of care and greater accessibility by the governments revision of the Long‐term Care Insurance (LTCI) program. The supply side is also suffering from both a decreasing population growth of youth category (14 and younger) and a static graduation rate of new nursing that is not growing commensurate with the demand. The government has begun to understand these detrimental factors and further revised national immigration policy to categorize senior care aid workers as skilled labor. The growth in demand for senior care services, the static domestic labor structure, and the new leniency of immigration policies has created various opportunities for foreign workers who are considering Japan as their new country of residence. The greater inflow of migrants into Japan could be a solution that can bring the country back to an acceptable level of prosperity and high quality‐of‐life for the senior population that the nation once had in the stable‐growth period.
However, there is a significant difference between attracting foreign migrants to the Japanese senior care industry and retaining the migrants once they are working in their full capacity. This paper introduces survey research to identify if community survey participants agree with migration in senior care and which factors affect their perception of receiving care from foreign caregivers. The survey includes 563 citizens within 12 different cities chosen randomly within Page | 1 Hiroshima, Shimane, and Yamaguchi prefectures. Their feedback on the opinion has highlighted several weaknesses in society that can be mitigated through appropriate public policy revision, community development, and legal protections. It is important to react in the short term to reverse the negative trends; especially, since foreigners are becoming harder to attract due to the stagnation economic conditions of Japan and the continued growth of the senior citizen base in need of qualified care.working pape
Why is the Vaccination Rate Low in India?
Get PDFWhy does the vaccination rate remain low, even in countries where long-established immunization programs exist, and vaccines are provided for free? We study this lower vaccination paradox in the context of India—which contributes to the largest pool of under-vaccinated children in the world and about one-third of all vaccine-preventable deaths globally. We explore the importance of historical events shaping current vaccination practices. Combining historical records with survey datasets, we examine the Indian government’s forced sterilization policy implemented in 1976-77 and find that greater exposure to forced sterilization has had a large negative effect on the current vaccination completion rate. We explore the mechanism for this practice and find that institutional delivery and antenatal care are low in states where policy exposure was high. Finally, we examine the consequence of lower vaccination, suggesting that child mortality is currently high in states with greater sterilization exposure. Together, the evidence suggests that government policies implemented in the past could have persistent impacts on adverse demand for healthseeking behavior, even if the burden is exceedingly high.working pape
Women’s Employment Rate by Age Group and Region in Japan : Characteristics and Underlying Factors
Get PDFBased on the census data from 1980 to 2015, this paper investigates the female employment rate by age groups in 47 prefectures and 20 major cities (government ordinance-designated cities) in Japan. The analysis results show that the employment rate of Japanese women has increased significantly in the past 35 years. However, compared with other prefectures/cities, the female employment rates are relatively low in prefectures of the three metropolitan areas as well as in a few major manufacturing cities of local areas.
Especially, in the age group between 25 and 39 years old, these regional characteristics are most outstanding. Therefore, in order to raise the employment rate of women for alleviating the labor shortage in Japan, the whole society must support the family activities (childbearing and child-rearing) of women between the ages of 25 and 39, particularly those working in metropolitan areas and major cities of local areas. Otherwise, the further increase of female employment rate will lead to the decline of female marriage rate and birth rate, and then the further decrease of Japan's future working population.working pape
Understanding the Puzzle of Primary Health Care Use: Evidence from India
Get PDFCan a domestic policy implemented by the government in the past help explain the puzzling practice of health care usage today? I study this question in the context of India, where households' use of primary health care services presents a paradox. A significant fraction of Indian households uses fee-charging private health care services even though most providers have no formal medical qualifications. The private share of health care use is even higher in markets where qualified doctors offer free care through public clinics. Combining contemporary household-level data with archival records, I examine the aggressive family planning program implemented during the emergency rule in the 1970s and explore whether the coercion, disinformation, and carelessness involved in implementing the program could partly explain the puzzle. Exploiting the timing of the emergency rule, state-level variation in the number of sterilizations, and an instrumental variable approach, I show that the states heavily affected by the sterilization policy have a lower level of public health care usage today. I demonstrate the mechanism for this practice by showing that the states heavily affected by forced sterilizations have a lower level of confidence in government hospitals and doctors and a higher level of confidence in private hospitals and doctors in providing good treatment.working pape