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Institutions, agricultural land utilisation and greenhouse gas emissions
Get PDFIncreasing agricultural land use is required to achieve SDG1 (no poverty) and SDG2 (zero hunger). However, agricultural land use and other input intensification strategies have been questioned due to the danger of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and damaging natural capital.
Most contemporary approaches to agricultural land management and its consequences on the GHG are mostly discussed from the classical economic perspectives. Though the nature of institutions plays a pivotal role in resource allocation of any society and impact, the failure of micro and macroeconomic policies could not be explained by the old institutionalism. Adverse effects of GHG and land use become external to the market and the market may be failed to
capture actual cost and benefits. New Institutional Economics (NIE) attempts to prevent market externalities by introducing transaction costs to contractual arrangements and the legal system, stressing the importance of institutions or governance in minimizing and avoiding
market failure by lowering transaction costs.
We found that the influence of governance on agricultural land use management and GHG emissions is not comprehensively researched with scientific data. This research contributes to the existing knowledge by quantifying the effects of institutions measured by governance
indicators on agricultural land use and GHG emission using a panel dataset covering 176 countries for the period 2002-2019. A Two-Stage Least Square (2SLS) estimation technique was utilised to quantify the impact. The moderating influence of the overall governance on
agricultural land use has decreased the GHG emission by 2 per cent. Moreover, individual governance indicators, control of corruption (COC), regulatory quality (RGQ), voice and accountability (VAC), and absence of violence/terrorism (POS) have a significant moderating influence on agricultural land usage by 7 per cent, 6 per cent, 9 per cent, and 33 per cent, respectively. The research findings provide empirical confirmation backing and verifying that the quality of institutions measured by the World Bank governance indicators enhances sustainability by changing agricultural land use and reducing GHG emissions.departmental bulletin pape
Geopolitical Influence and the Dynamics of Regional Order in East Asia
Get PDFInternational University of Japan博士（国際関係学）/ Ph.D. in International Relations2022There are two identified gaps in the studies on regional order. Scholars of political
science are yet to agree upon factors affecting the dynamics of the regional order and
incorporating relevant regions (such as East Asia) as the case analysis to flourish the discussion.
Thus, this dissertation aims to fill those gaps by: 1) proposing geopolitical influence as one of
the factors affecting the dynamics of the regional order and 2) analyzing the regional
geopolitics in East Asia. The dissertation answers the question of why there are dynamics in
the regional orders of East Asia and how the geopolitical influence affects the regional order
of East Asia. In order to answer those questions, this dissertation adopts a non-arbitrary
weighting system to measure and analyze East Asian geopolitics. This dissertation furtherly
develops the geopolitical influence model to measure the geopolitical influence of the U.S.,
China, Japan, and Russia in East Asia during the 2005-2018's period. The evolution over time,
the role of relevant actors, and analysis at the regional and subregional level would be the basis
of analysis of how geopolitics dynamically influence the regional order in East Asia. This
dissertation contributes to the field of geopolitical and regional studies by: 1) proposing a
scientific-based quantitative approach as an alternative way of geopolitical analysis, 2)
providing a case study for further discussion, and 3) bridging classical geopolitics with the
more up-to-date geopolitics.thesi
Design and Implementation Mismatch in Integration Policies: A Case Study of National Rurban Mission in India
Get PDFIntegration policies have emerged as a response to fragmented governance action post-NPM and participatory governance reforms across multiple sectors such as social development and rural development in both the developing and developed world. Despite the attention these policies have attracted, their implementation has been a failure, as recent reviews suggest. We examine a case of
integration policy implemented in rural development in India, the National Rurban Mission, at multiple levels using interviews, secondary data, and document analysis. Findings suggest a mismatch between policy design and policy implementation of integration. Limited incentives for integration
and overtly designed procedural policy instruments lead to efficiency and effectiveness tradeoffs during policy implementation. Findings imply the importance of overcoming the barriers to policy implementation of integration policies during the policy design phase.departmental bulletin pape
Belief in Egalitarianism and Meritocracy
Get PDFWhy do people often distribute joint surplus in an egalitarian way even when the
payoffs for more productive people are lower than those distributed in a meritocratic
way? In particular, does a stationary state exist in which more productive people believe
in egalitarianism even when distaste for meritocracy decreases as meritocratic payoffs
increase? We extend the Bisin–Verdier model of cultural transmission to address these
questions and demonstrate that such a stationary state exists, but is stable only under
certain conditions. Therefore, the fractions of people believing in egalitarianism and
meritocracy may continue to fluctuate.departmental bulletin pape
Do Financial Incentives on High Parity Birth Affect Fertility? Evidence from the Order of Glorious Mother in Mongolia
Get PDFThis paper exploits the change in award criteria of a pronatalist program in the
Mongolia that offers financial transfers to women achieving fertility goals at high
parity birth. We implement a quasi-experiment strategy by forming treatment and
control groups defined by time and child parity. We found positive effect of the
program on fertility, and the fertility response is diminishing when the high fertility
goal jumps from a lower one to a higher one. An extension of Barro–Becker fertility
model with the inclusion of social norm can support our empirical finding.departmental bulletin pape
Aging and Voters’ Preferences on Inflation in Japan: A Conjoint Experiment
Get PDFThis paper examines elderly voters’ preferences towards changes in price levels in Japan using conjoint experiments conducted in April 2022. The elderly, who tend to rely on pension and savings, are expected to be more averse to inflation than the others because it reduces their purchasing power. Improvement in economic conditions that may come with inflation would also not benefit them because many of them have already retired. Considering the rising share of the elderly among the Japanese voters and their high voter turnout, their aversion to inflation may constrain Japan’s macroeconomic policies through electoral channels.
To better understand the elderly’s preferences on inflation and their effects on politics, the paper asks the following two questions: for what kinds of goods and services do the elderly dislike price hikes and whether inflation is important for their perception of the overall condition of the society. The results of the conjoint experiments reveal that: (1) regardless of age, respondents tend to dislike price increases of goods and services more closely related to their daily lives; (2) the extent to which (1) is observed is not different between the elderly and the others; (3) respondents, regardless of age, dislike inflation and recession; and (4) younger respondents perceive the good economic condition to be desirable, while elderly respondents do not dislike the good economic condition but do not perceive it as desirable either.本稿の目的は、高齢者の物価水準の変化に対する態度を、2022 年 4 月に実施した日本の
有権者を対象とした小規模なコンジョイント実験の結果を用いて分析することである。高
齢者は主に年金と預貯金から収入を得ており、インフレは実質的な購買力を低下させるの
で、若い世代と比べて物価水準の上昇をより強く嫌がる傾向があると仮定する。そのうえで
本稿では（１）物価に係る選好を理解するため、高齢者はどのようなモノ・サービスの価格
上昇をもっとも嫌がっているのか、そして（２）物価が選挙や経済政策に与える影響を理解
するため、高齢者にとってインフレは争点としてどの程度重要なのかを検証する。
（１）については、年代に関係なく有権者はより身近なモノ・サービスの価格上昇を嫌が
る傾向にあることが示された。また、65 歳以上と 65 歳未満では身近なモノ・サービスの価
格上昇を嫌がる度合いに大きな差はなかった。（２）については、年代に関係なく有権者は
インフレと不景気の両方を嫌がっているという結果が得られた。さらに、65 歳未満は好景
気を望ましいと認識していること、65 歳以上は好景気を嫌がってはいないが望ましいとも
認識していないことがわかった。departmental bulletin pape
JAPANESE CULTURAL DIPLOMACY TOWARD THAILAND: AN ANALYSIS IN AGENT-STRUCTURAL RELATIONS
Get PDFInternational University of Japan博士（国際関係学）/ Ph.D. in International Relations2021What explains Japanese cultural diplomacy toward Thailand? This topic is under-researched. While most scholarship also evaluates on the success of non-state cultural practitioners, de-emphasising the importance of structural contexts can influence cultural practice over time. The dissertation seeks to fill in both theoretical and empirical gaps on dominantly agent-focus approach. This dissertation specifically asks “(1) how Japan-Thailand bilateral relations shift toward soft power and (2) under what structural features permit the changes from government-to-private practices in its diplomatic styles”. In answering these questions, this dissertation applies constructivism’s agent-structural framework in tandem with the New Public Diplomacy (NPD). The study engages the constructivist framework into holistic standpoints of how different ideational structures coincide with the adjustment of Japanese cultural policy in line with its national interests toward Thailand. The study followingly analyses how these structural conditions affect the Japan Foundation Bangkok and its cultural programmes from state-to-private orchestrated diplomacy. In addition, the study utilises the NPD’s definition of cultural diplomacy in conceptualising a pluralistic term of agents involved in a conduct of public diplomacy and a transformation of diplomatic styles.
The study presents four types of agent-structural relations over the studied periods: militaristic-based structure, economic-based structure, social-based structure and, value-based structure. The paradigm shift occurs when the Japan-Thailand relations started to develop to value-based structure from the 1990s. Correspondingly, the role of Japan Foundation Bangkok develops from an introducer of state-centric culture to a transmitter of Japanese value-based culture, utilising private-orchestrated diplomacy as a true form of soft power toward Thailand. The dissertation contributes to academic literature as a foundation study on periodical analysis of Japan-Thailand bilateral relationship in cultural practices, as a scholar contribution to the theoretical framework in bridging constructivism and the NPD’s definition into the existing study, and as the first empirical study on the periodical development of the Japan Foundation Bangkok.thesi
How Much Does Nominal Share Price Matter?
Get PDFThe paper examines the relation between nominal share price and price momentum, explicitly controlling for nominal share price levels. The results show that very high/low nominal share price stocks lack price momentum and utilize more systemic risk which remains even controlling for stock splits. While splitting a stock allows firm managers to keep the nominal share price constant, thereby increasing firm value and attracting more investors, it also increases the likelihood of uninformed trading by those with limited budgets and risk share capacity. As a result, splitting a stock causes stock information to diffuse more slowly, leading to higher price momentum.departmental bulletin pape
Momentum Has Its Own Values
Get PDFWe find high momentum stocks with preserving substantial \fundamental value" are more likely to rebound after unexpected financial shocks. The portfolio test show that our proposed investment strategy can inherit more portfolio downside risk, especially the momentum crash during turbulent times.departmental bulletin pape
ASSESSING DETERMINANTS OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES' JOB SATISFACTION IN MYANMAR
Get PDFInternational University of Japan博士（公共経営学）/ Ph.D. in Public Management2021Public sector job satisfaction is an important topic, but studies on the job satisfaction
of Myanmar public employees are limited. What is the general level of public sector
job satisfaction, what factors affect public employees' job satisfaction, and how are
they satisfied with their jobs are unclear. To address these questions, this study
adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method approach and found out job
satisfaction factors. In the qualitative phase, data were collected through face-to-face
interviews with 226 public employees, then quantitative data were gathered by
assessing self-administered survey data (N = 1,225). The qualitative data collected
from the interviews were analyzed by NVivo 12. Multiple regression analysis using
STATA version 15 was conducted to analyze the survey data. Applying Herzberg's
two-factor theory, the study found that both motivators and hygiene factors
influenced public employees' job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. In particular,
interpersonal relationships, family orientation, work itself, public service motivation,
supervision technical, religiosity, salary, and job security all were found to have an
effect on job satisfaction in both qualitative and quantitative findings. Job
dissatisfaction factors found in both the qualitative and quantitative findings were
work itself, recognition, possibility of growth, and supervision technical. More
specifically, public service motivation and religiosity contribute to job satisfaction,
and family orientation’s negative effect is statistically significant. This study shed the
light on the importance of cultural and religious values while studying job
satisfaction.thesi