69 research outputs found
Japanese foreign direct investment : recent trends, determinants, and prospects
Get PDFIn the late 1980s, Japan became the biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world. The main beneficiaries of the rapid increase in investment flows were industrial countries, but the developing world (especially East Asia and Latin America) also received substantial inflows. In East Asia, the newly industrial economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan (China) were, at first, production bases for Japanese manufacturing in the 1970s and early 1980s. But in the late 1980s, these countries became new, expanding consumer markets, attracting huge Japanese investments in the tertiary (service) sector, while investments in manufacturing shrank rapidly because of rising labor costs. The Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) and China became Japan's new production base. In Latin America (mostly small Caribbean countries) Japan's focus is almost exclusively on tax havens. Globally, Japan's investments in the secondary (manufacturing) and service sectors of the major Latin American nations are only marginal. Japanese investment flows declined drastically after 1989, mostly because of the depressed global and domestic economy, after rapid asset price deflation in Japan. Hardest hit by the decline were the United States and Europe. Japanese FDI flows to developing countries also declined, but less. The biggest losers were the NIEs and the Caribbean tax havens. The biggest losers were the NIEs and the Caribbean tax havens. Japanese investments continued to grow in other Latin American countries and, even more, in the ASEAN and China. Japanese investors sharply reduced tertiary sector investments, primarily geared to maintaining or expanding markets. Investments in the secondary sector, making use of low-cost production, continued to expand. This trend is expected to continue in the near future, with FDI flows declining further, albeit more slowly. Low-wage production countries such as China and Indonesia will attract an increasing share. Investment to expand markets in the industrial countries and the NIEs are likely to decline. But medium-term prospects for Japanese FDI in developing countries are brighter, as economic recovery and continuing current account surpluses in Japan will lead to a resumption of active foreign investment by Japanese multinational corporations.Foreign Direct Investment,Environmental Economics&Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Trade and Regional Integration
Prompt Photon Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at √s = 200 GeV
No full textThis thesis reports the cross section for the production of prompt photon in proton-proton collisions at √s = 200 GeV at the PHENIX experiment. The measurement of the prompt photon cross section is a test of perturbative Quantum Chromo Dynamics (pQCD),and it gives us the gluon distribution in the nucleon. This work also serves as a basis of the measurement of the polarized gluon distribution function of the proton in the future
Developing countries and the Uruguay Round : negotiations on services
Get PDFIn the late 1980s many developing countries experienced something of a pardigm shift: governments began to pursue more market-oriented domestic policies. There was an increasing perception that liberalizing access to service markets was a potentially low-cost, effective method for improving the quality and efficiency of domestic service sectors. These unilateral policy developments increased the incentives for developing countries as a group to participate in a multilateral agreement to liberalize trade in services. The author explores the extent to which the initial negotiating positions of developing countries are reflected in the draft General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) that has emerged from the Uruguay Round negotiations. He investigates whether the unilateral policy changes implemented by many developing countries in the late 1980s had a discernible impact on the draft GATS for developing countries. Many developing countries are pursuing regulatory reform and liberalization. To what extent will signing the GATS help governments trying to make their service sectors more efficient? Is the result of the defensive negotiating strategy that was pursued consistent with the shift toward a policy of liberalizing service markets? This issue is of particular relevance insofar as recent liberalization-plus-privatization programs in developing countries were driven by external forces rather than domestic pressure (industry) groups - which might reduce the credibility of liberalization policies. Membership in a binding multilateral agreement could help bolster reform efforts by increasing the costs of backsliding.Trade and Services,Poverty Assessment,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Governance Indicators,Rules of Origin
Devaluation in low-inflation economies
Get PDFIn the current period of devaluation pessimism, devaluation is often seen as an instrument to accommodate inflation instead of one to change the real exchange rate and support external balance. The authors argue that such pessimism has in some cases gone too far. The real exchange rate is an endogenous variable, and whether devaluation can change the real exchange rate depends on other factors. But devaluation is not always evil, say the authors, and in some cases it can improve macroeconomic performance. It is most effective if it corrects an initial situation where the currency is clearly overvalued. In low-inflation countries, devaluation is less likely to destabilize prices because there is less indexing. The authors examine the effect of maxi-devaluation in low-inflation countries on the real exchange rate, inflation, and growth. They use a sample of 33 maxi-devaluations (20 percent or larger) in economies that had low inflation before the devaluation and where the exchange rate had remained fixed for at least three years before the devaluation. Not surprisingly, most of these episodes occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, when fixed exchange rates and inflation were the norm. The results indicate room for devaluation optimism. The authors find that devaluation is more effective in low-inflation economies where devaluation is a sporadic event - typically, effecting a real depreciation twice as large as that in inflationary economies. In low-inflation countries, a 50-percent devaluation typically succeeds in depreciating the real exchange rate by about 30 percent in the long run, without leading to a permanent increase in inflation. The authors also find that growth and exports increase after devaluation. Other findings include the following. Countries determined to maintain price stability after devaluation can do so. In countries with low inflation that have not devalued for three years, a maxi-devaluation is not likely to move the economy into high inflation. Under most of the most likely scenarios, inflation will increase around 3 percentage points (or 35 percent of the original rate of inflation). Under the best scenarios, there is an increase in inflation the year before and the year of devaluation, but inflation then falls to a level slightly higher than the level before devaluation. Devaluation has a favorable impact on exports. The shift to a more flexible exchange-rate regime was not associated with complete loss of control of inflation. In most cases, inflation went up slightly - and in only a few cases (Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, and Zaire) dramatically.But the movement toward greater exchange-rate flexibility was not associated with complete loss of control of inflation. In Pakistan and Rwanda, inflation fell, and in most countries it averaged less than 20 percent.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Stabilization,Economic Theory&Research,Macroeconomic Management,Fiscal&Monetary Policy
日本におけるイノベーション政策と産学官連携 : 「知的クラスター創成事業」の軌跡と教訓
No full textイノベーション・マネジメント研究センターの許諾済。学術目的以外の引用・複写を禁止しています。引用には出典を明記の事。本稿は、日本の文部科学省によって行われた「知的クラスター創成事業」がイノベーション政策として持つ意義に焦点を当てる。同政策は2002 年にはじまり、2003 年および2004 年には指定地域が追加され、全国18 の地域が指定を受けた。同政策では5 年間で25 億円の資金が各地域への助成金として配分された。この政策には詳細な評価プログラムも含められており、政策効果の研究を可能にしている。事業への参加者は、産学官連携を推進するコンソーシアムを形成することが義務づけられていたが、筆者は、これら18 地域のすべてを訪問してコーディネーター、大学教授や研究者、大学発ベンチャーのマネージャー、および各地域の参加企業の研究者にインタビューを行ってきた。同政策の政策的含意を検討すると、日本の「知的クラスター創成事業」が官の役割に依存していることが特徴として浮かび上がる。今後は、大学におけるマネジメント能力を洗練させていくことによって産学官連携から産学連携に移行していくべきである。同政策における官のコーディネーターは、クラスターの活動を活発にするために多くの協力企業と研究者を連結してきたが、コーディネーターが大学での専門職となった場合には、大学が学術的な生産性をサポートするだけでなく、産学連携にもとづいた新たな大学発ベンチャーを迅速に支援するという重要な役割を果たすことができる。This paper focuses on innovation policy entitled "The Knowledge Cluster Initiative" implemented by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. The Initiative began in 2002 and designated areas were added in 2003 and in 2004. By 2004, it included 18 regions for the University-Business-Government (UBG) alliances, for which 2.5 billion yen was granted in each region. As the Initiative included detailed assessment programs, it enabled assessing the performance over the first five-year round. The author visited all of these areas to interview coordinators, university professors and researchers, managers for startup ventures, and researchers at participating companies. Participants were required to form consortia to promote industry-based research. In this paper, the author examines policy implications from the Initiative. The Japanese innovation policy depended on UBG alliances, but it may well be sophisticated by focusing on University-Business alliances. Although the coordinators in the Initiative have actively connected participants to maintain cluster performance, they were employed by organizations in the public sector. If coordinators are directly employed by the universities, they can play agile roles in linking the participants in University-Business collaborations. The coordinators can be trained among university staffs whereby officers in the universities can support academic productivity as well as new startups based on the UBG alliances
How much do distortions affect growth?
Get PDFThe author presents a simple endogenous growth model (with two types of capital) that shows the sizable long-run effects on growth of distortionary policies. The model applies to many different types of distortions of relative prices common in developing countries - for example, price controls, black market exchange rates, and differential taxes and tariffs. The model shows that distortions of relative input prices can greatly affect growth and welfare. The magnitude of the effect depends on the production elasticity of substitution. With high substitutability, the effects on growth and welfare, although possibly large, are bounded, no matter how high the rate of distortion. Subsidizing inputs and investment goods can increase growth, even though it worsens welfare. But a subsidy to one capital good financed by a tax on another capital good unambiguously reduces growth. Empirical results show strong negative effects from variance in the relative prices of investment goods across sectors, while also confirming and extending earlier results showing that penalizing investment goods and distorting financial markets reduce growth.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Growth,Achieving Shared Growth,Inequality
Competition, competition policy, and the GATT
Get PDFThe authors argue that further moves to liberalize trade and to implement existing GATT rules and principles may have a greater impact on global competition than would the pursuit of harmonization of competition policy. They also suggest that current GATT rules and case law provide scope for disputes to be brought before the GATT that relate to both the application and the nonapplication of existing domestic competition laws of GATT contracting parties. This leads to de facto discrimination between domestic and foreign products. Little use has been made of the GATT in this connection. Perhaps existing indirect avenues for raising competition-related disputes in the GATT should be pursued more actively. This would help identify what specific government policies might be the subject of multilateral negotiations and explicitly incorporated into the GATT framework.Environmental Economics&Policies,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOMEAND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access
A Novel Mechanism for Bone Loss: Platelet Count Negatively Correlates with Bone Mineral Density via Megakaryocyte-Derived RANKL
No full textA potential association between hematopoietic stem cell status in bone marrow and surrounding bone tissue has been hypothesized, and some studies have investigated the link between blood count and bone mineral density (BMD), although their exact relationship remains controversial. Moreover, biological factors linking the two are largely unknown. In our present study, we found no clear association between platelet count and BMD in the female group, with aging having a very strong effect on BMD. On the other hand, a significant negative correlation was found between platelet count and BMD in the male group. As a potential mechanism, we examined whether megakaryocytes, the source of platelet production, secrete cytokines that regulate BMD, namely OPG, M-CSF, and RANKL. We detected the production of these cytokines by megakaryocytes derived from bone marrow mononuclear cells, and found that RANKL was negatively correlated with BMD. This finding suggests that RANKL production by megakaryocytes may mediate the negative correlation between platelet count and BMD. To our knowledge, this is the first report to analyze bone marrow cells as a mechanism for the association between blood count and BMD. Our study may provide new insights into the development and potential treatment of osteoporosis
Physical properties of Centaur (60558) 174P/Echeclus from stellar occultations
No full textFull list of the authors: Pereira, C. L.; Braga-Ribas, F.; Sicardy, B.; Gomes-Júnior, A. R.; Ortiz, J. L.; Branco, H. C.; Camargo, J. I. B.; Morgado, B. E.; Vieira-Martins, R.; Assafin, M.; Benedetti-Rossi, G.; Desmars, J.; Emilio, M.; Morales, R.; Rommel, F. L.; Hayamizu, T.; Gondou, T.; Jehin, E.; Artola, R. A.; Asai, A.; Colazo, C.; Ducrot, E.; Duffard, R.; Fabrega, J.; Fernandez-Valenzuela, E.; Gillon, M.; Horaguchi, T.; Ida, M.; Kitazaki, K.; Mammana, L. A.; Maury, A.; Melita, M.; Morales, N.; Moya-Sierralta, C.; Owada, M.; Pollock, J.; Sanchez, J. L.; Santos-Sanz, P.; Sasanuma, N.; Sebastian, D.; Triaud, A.; Uchiyama, S.; Vanzi, L.; Watanabe, H.; Yamamura, H.The Centaur (60558) Echeclus was discovered on 2000 March 03, orbiting between the orbits of Jupiter and Uranus. After exhibiting frequent outbursts, it also received a comet designation, 174P. If the ejected material can be a source of debris to form additional structures, studying the surroundings of an active body like Echeclus can provide clues about the formation scenarios of rings, jets, or dusty shells around small bodies. Stellar occultation is a handy technique for this kind of investigation, as it can, from Earth-based observations, detect small structures with low opacity around these objects. Stellar occultation by Echeclus was predicted and observed in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We obtain upper detection limits of rings with widths larger than 0.5 km and optical depth of τ = 0.02. These values are smaller than those of Chariklo's main ring; in other words, a Chariklo-like ring would have been detected. The occultation observed in 2020 provided two positive chords used to derive the triaxial dimensions of Echeclus based on a 3D model and pole orientation available in the literature. We obtained a = 37.0 ± 0.6 km, b = 28.4 ± 0.5 km, and c = 24.9 ± 0.4 km, resulting in an area-equivalent radius of 30.0 ± 0.5 km. Using the projected limb at the occultation epoch and the available absolute magnitude (), we calculate an albedo of pv = 0.050 ± 0.003. Constraints on the object's density and internal friction are also proposed. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.CLP is thankful for the support of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - FAPERJ/DSC-10 (E26/204.141/2022). This work was carried out within the ‘Lucky Star’ umbrella that agglomerates the efforts of the Paris, Granada, and Rio teams, funded by the European Research Council under the European Community’s H2020 (ERC grant agreement no. 669416). This study was partly financed by the National Institute of Science and Technology of the e-Universe project (INCT do e-Universo, CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). This study was financed in part by CAPES – Finance Code 001. The authors acknowledge the respective CNPq grants: BEM 150612/2020-6; FBR 314772/2020-0; RVM 307368/2021-1; MA 427700/2018-3, 310683/2017-3, 473002/2013-2; JIBC acknowledges grants 305917/2019-6, 306691/2022-1 (CNPq), and 201.681/2019 (FAPERJ). JLO acknowledges financial support from the grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, also acknowledges the financial support by the Spanish grants PID2020-112789GB-I00 from AEI and Proyecto de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía PY20-01309. PSS acknowledges financial support from the Spanish I+D+i project PID2022-139555NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We acknowledge financial support from the Severo Ochoa grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. ED acknowledges support from the innovation and research Horizon 2020 programme in the context of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie subvention 945298. TRAPPIST-South is funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique, FNRS) under the grant PDRT.0120.21. EJ is F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 803193/BEBOP), from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant no. ST/S00193X/1), and from the MERAC foundation . The ULiege’s contribution to SPECULOOS-South Observatory has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013) (grant Agreement no. 336480/SPECULOOS), from the Balzan Prize and Francqui Foundations, from the Belgian Scientific Research Foundation (F.R.S.-FNRS; grant no. T.0109.20), from the University of Liege, and from the ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The contribution of the University of Cambridge to SPECULOOS-South Observatory is supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI Queloz, grant number 327127). MG is F.R.S.-FNRS Research Director LV was partially funded by ANID, BASAL, FB210003. We thank the observers A. Hashimoto, M. Meunier for their efforts in the observational campaigns. Some results were based on observations taken at the 1.6 m telescope at Pico dos Dias Observatory of the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (L.N.A./Brazil). This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (E.S.A.) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (D.P.A.C., https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium).Peer reviewe
Measurement of prompt J/ψ and beauty hadron production cross sections at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at √s =7 TeV
Get PDFThe ALICE experiment at the LHC has studied J/ψ production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at s √ =7 TeV through its electron pair decay on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity L int = 5.6 nb−1. The fraction of J/ψ from the decay of long-lived beauty hadrons was determined for J/ψ candidates with transverse momentum p t > 1.3 GeV/c and rapidity |y| 1.3 GeV/c, |y| 1.3 GeV/c and |y| 1.3 GeV/c, |y| <0.9) = 1.46 ± 0.38 (stat.) +0.26 −0.32 (syst.) μb. The results are compared to QCD model predictions. The shape of the p t and y distributions of b-quarks predicted by perturbative QCD model calculations are used to extrapolate the measured cross section t
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