420 research outputs found
Productivity Improvement in the Specialized Industrial Clusters: The Case of the Japanese Silk-Reeling Industry
No full textWe examine two sources of productivity improvement in the specialized industrial clusters. Agglomeration improves the roductivity of each plant through positive externalities, shifting plant-level productivity distribution to the right. Selection expels less productive plants through competition, truncating distribution on the left. By analyzing the data of the early twentieth century Japanese silk-reeling industry, we find no evidence confirming a right shift in the distribution in clusters or that gglomeration promotes faster productivity growth. These findings imply that the plant-selection effect was the source of higher productivity in the Japanese silk-reeling clusters.Economic geography, Heterogeneous firms, Selection, Productivity
Participatory Rural Development in 1930s Japan: The Economic Rehabilitation Movement
No full textThis paper studies an early participatory rural development program implemented during the 1930s in Japan. This program selected several villages each year to draft and implement their own original development plans. I discuss the implications of the features of the program on its effectiveness. A detailed baseline survey conducted by the villagers themselves helped them to objectively diagnose their economic situations and understand their issues. The plans defined clear numerical targets, allowing them to share goals and monitor progress. The implementation of the plan was reinforced by frequent communication and monitoring among neighbors and by an incentive scheme that involved competition within a village. I use a village-level panel dataset from the Hyogo prefecture to examine the effects, under the difference-in-differences strategy. I find suggestive evidence that the program helped foster the adoption of cattle raising and diversify agricultural production.Participatory development, Rural development program, Crop diversification, Great Depression, Japan
Impact of University Intellectual Property Policy on the Performance of University-Industry Research Collaboration
No full textDespite various expected advantages, university-industry research collaboration (UIC), a relationship between two different worlds, often faces serious difficulties. Thus, the performance of UIC depends on the research partners’ strategies to bridge the gaps between them according to the institutional environment. In Japan, UIC has developed rapidly since the late 1990s based on drastic institutional changes regarding universities. We pay special attention to the role of the university intellectual property (IP) policy introduced after 2003 and empirically examine its impact on the performance of UIC projects. A clear and equitable IP policy that can be applied flexibly to the needs of partners would be optimal for a UIC to be efficiently managed. Otherwise, the project might face serious conflicts of interests and low incentive for cooperation. Using a sample of Japanese firms from our original survey, we find that the IP policy of partner universities indeed has a positive and significant impact on various performances of UIC projects, controlling for firm and project characteristics and considering potential selection bias from UIC participation.university, intellectual property policy, research collaboration, project performance, Japan
Does Founders’ Human Capital Matter for Innovation? Evidence from Japanese Start-ups
No full textUsing a sample from an original questionnaire survey in Japan, this paper explores whether and how founders’ human capital affects innovation outcomes by start-ups. The results provide evidence that founders with greater human capital are more likely to yield innovation outcome. However, because certain types of founders’ human capital may boost R&D investment, which possibly results in innovation outcomes, we estimate the determinants of innovation outcomes by an instrumental variable probit model taking into account the endogeneity of R&D investment. Our findings suggest that specific human capital for innovation, such as founders’ prior innovation experience, is directly associated with innovation outcomes after start-up, while generic human capital, such as founders’ educational background, indirectly affects innovation outcomes through R&D investment.Start-up, Founder, Human capital, Innovations, R&D investment
Regional variations in labor force behavior of women in Japan
No full textThis study uses cross-sectional data to investigate the regional differences in women's participation in the labor market. Women's participation is high in the northern coastal region of Japan. Their high rate of participation is caused by the fact that married women with children participate as regular full-time eployees. A possible explanation for the high participation in the northern coastal region is a combination of (1) a high degree of manufacturing in the northern coastal region and (2) supply side factors that motivate women to work.Regional differences, regular employment, part-time employment, Japan
The impact of farmland readjustment and consolidation on structural adjustment: The case of Niigata, Japan
No full textImproving agricultural productivity is a pressing challenge for rapidly growing economies. Farmland concentration among core famers is instrumental for reaping the economies of scale. However, farmland fragmentation often serves as a barrier to such structural adjustments. This paper studies Farmland Improvement Projects in Japan, which physically mitigate farmland fragmentation by merging and enlarging small plots and consolidating land parcels among farmers. I employ community-level panel data to make use of difference-in-differences matching estimators, in order to measure the projects’ impacts. I find positive effects of the projects on structural adjustment, in the form of machinery-work outsourcing.farmland improvement project, farmland concentration, farmland fragmentation, structural adjustment, Japan
Foreign Ownership, Listed Status and the Financial System in East Asia: Evidence from Thailand and Malaysia
No full textExisting studies on the financial system in East Asia have emphasized its excessive debt financing, the lack of a bond market and its limited function on corporate governance. Other apparent facts, such as the average low debt ratio, the existence of large but unlisted firms, and the significance of foreign firms in its economy are generally ignored. Based on a uniquely compiled database for the top 1000 firms in Thailand and Malaysia, we examined the distributional feature of listed status and foreign ownership, and then re-estimated the determinants of the capital structures. We confirmed basic facts, such as the fact that unlisted firms occupy a large portion in the distribution, and that the debt financing of major firms is relatively inactive. We also found the significance of foreign ownership and its negative relationship with debt financing and ‘going public’. Finally, we found that certain kinds of foreign firms tend to keep large retained earnings and non-bank debt, suggesting their deep reliance on self-financing and internal capital markets. The characteristics of corporate finance in East Asia can be explained in part by distributional features on listing status and foreign ownership. Our findings raised questions about the conventional view of the current policy framework which emphasized on the shift from financial intermediation to the capital and bond markets.Financial System, Corporate Finance, East Asia, FDI
Fundraising Behaviors of Listed Companies in Vietnam: An Estimation of the Influence of Government Ownership
No full textThis study investigates the capital structure and investment activities of listed companies on the Hanoi Securities Exchange and the Ho Chi Minh Securities Exchange in Vietnam. Estimation analysis using panel data covering the four-year period 2006-2009 revealed the following results. (1) Standard corporate financing theories such as trade-off theory and agency cost theory could be appropriate for explaining the capital structure of listed companies in Vietnam. (2) Compared to the fundraising activities of the companies analyzed by Nguyen (2006) and Biger et al. (2008), the fundraising activities of the listed companies were better explained by standard agency cost theory. (3) There are differences between the determinants of long-term fundraising and short-term fundraising of listed companies in Vietnam. (4) The fundraising determinants of state-controlled companies are different from those of other companies; state-controlled companies have an advantage in tapping external debt funds, and their incentive to reduce their tax payments by debt financing is weaker. (5) The companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh Securities Exchange depended less on debt financing than those listed on the Hanoi Securities Exchange. (6) Listed companies in Vietnam face weak incentives to reduce their tax payments by debt financing because the effective corporate tax rate is low. These results imply that the economic reforms (“Doi Moi”) implemented by the Vietnamese government, which aims to create an economic system based on market mechanisms, have achieved some of their goals in terms of fund mobilization and corporate financing. However, our estimation study illustrates several limitations of economic reforms, such as the opaque relationship between state-controlled companies and government banks, financial restrictions on investment activities, and inactive investment of companies that are state-controlled or listed on the Ho Chi Minh Securities Exchange.Corporate Finance, Capital Structure, Transition Economy, Vietnam
China in the World Economy: Dynamic Correlation Analysis of Business Cycles
No full textWe analyze globalization and business cycles in China and selected OECD countries using dynamic correlation analysis. We show that dynamic correlations of business cycles of OECD countries and China are negative at business-cycle frequencies and positive for short-run developments. Furthermore, trade and financial flows of OECD countries and China reduce the degree of business cycle synchronization within the OECD area, especially at business-cycle frequencies. Thus, different degrees of participation in globalization can explain the differences between the business cycles of OECD countries.Globalization, business cycles, synchronization, trade, FDI, dynamic correlation
Development of University Life-Science Programs and University-Industry Joint Research in Japan
No full textHow does the establishment of new university educational programs promote university-industry joint research? To study this question for the fields of life sciences and biotechnology, we first compile the data on the establishment of new undergraduate and graduate programs in these fields in Japanese universities since the 1950s. We then analyze statistically whether and how such establishment contributed to the occurrence and frequency of university-industry joint research in biotechnology. The results suggest that, first, the expansion of such university programs in fact contributed to the promotion of university-industry joint research and, second, these collaborations increased following the 1998 legislation to promote technology transfer from universities (the so-called TLO Act) and the 1999 legislation to allow universities to retain rights on their inventions made with government research funds (the so-called Japanese Bayh-Dole Act).
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