Pub Date : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101343
Toshiyuki Matsuura
This study revisits the impact of the servicification of Japanese manufacturing firms on their performance in the export market using a Japanese firm-level panel data set from 2009 to 2019. We constructed two measures of firm-level servicification: in-house service production and bought-in service input, which refers to service purchased from external providers. We then examine the impact of both types of servicification on corporate performance in the export market, as measured by the global value chain participation dummy and export intensity. Estimating the correlated random effects model, which allows us to control for unobserved individual fixed effects, we find that bought-in service input, especially service outsourcing, significantly improves global value chain participation and export intensity, and that this effect is greater for high-tech industries.
{"title":"Revisiting the role of service for manufacturing firm exports: Evidence from Japanese firm-level data","authors":"Toshiyuki Matsuura","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study revisits the impact of the servicification of Japanese manufacturing firms on their performance in the export market using a Japanese firm-level panel data set from 2009 to 2019. We constructed two measures of firm-level servicification: in-house service production and bought-in service input, which refers to service purchased from external providers. We then examine the impact of both types of servicification on corporate performance in the export market, as measured by the global value chain participation dummy and export intensity. Estimating the correlated random effects model, which allows us to control for unobserved individual fixed effects, we find that bought-in service input, especially service outsourcing, significantly improves global value chain participation and export intensity, and that this effect is greater for high-tech industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101343"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145760846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101335
Hongyan Lu
This paper investigates whether introducing advanced technologies will affect the impact of population aging on productivity. We examine the interactions between age-skill labor groups and technical capital represented by ICT and industrial robots in 12 OECD countries from 2008 to 2020. Using sector-level data, we find that a higher ICT intensity enhances relative labor productivity in industries employing a large share of low-skilled older workers, while robots exhibit complementarities with high-skilled older workers. Moreover, when ICT and robots are jointly adopted, the relative productivity differences across age-skilled groups are shrinked, particularly narrowing the gap between workers of the same age group but with different skill levels. The effects, however, are highly heterogeneous across countries and industries. In countries with high population aging and widespread robot use, the interactions between technological capital and labor differ markedly. Furthermore, robots tend to exhibit stronger complementarities with workers in capital-intensive industries, while ICT shows complementary effects with older workers across both skill groups in labor-intensive industries.
{"title":"Robots, ICT and aging: How do advanced technologies interact with aging","authors":"Hongyan Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101335","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101335","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates whether introducing advanced technologies will affect the impact of population aging on productivity. We examine the interactions between age-skill labor groups and technical capital represented by ICT and industrial robots in 12 OECD countries from 2008 to 2020. Using sector-level data, we find that a higher ICT intensity enhances relative labor productivity in industries employing a large share of low-skilled older workers, while robots exhibit complementarities with high-skilled older workers. Moreover, when ICT and robots are jointly adopted, the relative productivity differences across age-skilled groups are shrinked, particularly narrowing the gap between workers of the same age group but with different skill levels. The effects, however, are highly heterogeneous across countries and industries. In countries with high population aging and widespread robot use, the interactions between technological capital and labor differ markedly. Furthermore, robots tend to exhibit stronger complementarities with workers in capital-intensive industries, while ICT shows complementary effects with older workers across both skill groups in labor-intensive industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101335"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101333
Akihiro Yoshimura, Reo Takaku
Over the last several decades, many developed countries have increased patient cost-sharing to contain healthcare expenditures. Some influential studies, including the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, suggest that increasing patient cost-sharing reduces unnecessary medical care by mitigating ex-post moral hazard. However, most existing studies in this field focus on short-run effects, in which the health status of the insured and provider behaviors remain unchanged. In this study, we analyze the medium-term impact of the 2003 coinsurance rate increase on inpatient care utilization by using public hospital data in Japan covering a 12-year period. Difference-in-differences and event study analyses robustly showed that the number of inpatients decreased a few years after the 2003 reforms. However, inpatient costs per patient day began to increase after four years, mainly due to increased medical resources. Eventually, despite the initial reduction in the number of inpatients, we found that the effects on total inpatient costs were negligible in the medium run. These findings indicate that many existing studies may overestimate the cost-containment effects of patient cost-sharing in the medium- and long-term.
{"title":"Medium-run effects of patient cost-sharing on the demand-side and supply-side of inpatient care: A natural experiment in Japan","authors":"Akihiro Yoshimura, Reo Takaku","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101333","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101333","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the last several decades, many developed countries have increased patient cost-sharing to contain healthcare expenditures. Some influential studies, including the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, suggest that increasing patient cost-sharing reduces unnecessary medical care by mitigating ex-post moral hazard. However, most existing studies in this field focus on short-run effects, in which the health status of the insured and provider behaviors remain unchanged. In this study, we analyze the medium-term impact of the 2003 coinsurance rate increase on inpatient care utilization by using public hospital data in Japan covering a 12-year period. Difference-in-differences and event study analyses robustly showed that the number of inpatients decreased a few years after the 2003 reforms. However, inpatient costs per patient day began to increase after four years, mainly due to increased medical resources. Eventually, despite the initial reduction in the number of inpatients, we found that the effects on total inpatient costs were negligible in the medium run. These findings indicate that many existing studies may overestimate the cost-containment effects of patient cost-sharing in the medium- and long-term.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101333"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-13DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101334
Yasuhiro Iwanaga
This study conducts a systematic analysis of the stock market reversal effect using four key indicators: high-to-price, price-to-high, low-to-price, and price-to-low. By applying these indicators to the Japanese stock market, this study evaluates their effectiveness in predicting reversals. The findings indicate that among the four indicators, price-to-low proves to be the most effective. In contrast, high-to-price, which was initially expected to be the strongest in capturing the momentum effect, does not perform as prominently as anticipated. This suggests that the reference price investors should consider may vary depending on market conditions and time periods. Moreover, the effectiveness of the price-to-low strategy becomes even more pronounced during periods of high volatility, highlighting its potential as a valuable investment approach in times of heightened market uncertainty.
{"title":"Decomposing the reversal effect: Exploring low-to-price and other indicators","authors":"Yasuhiro Iwanaga","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101334","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101334","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study conducts a systematic analysis of the stock market reversal effect using four key indicators: high-to-price, price-to-high, low-to-price, and price-to-low. By applying these indicators to the Japanese stock market, this study evaluates their effectiveness in predicting reversals. The findings indicate that among the four indicators, price-to-low proves to be the most effective. In contrast, high-to-price, which was initially expected to be the strongest in capturing the momentum effect, does not perform as prominently as anticipated. This suggests that the reference price investors should consider may vary depending on market conditions and time periods. Moreover, the effectiveness of the price-to-low strategy becomes even more pronounced during periods of high volatility, highlighting its potential as a valuable investment approach in times of heightened market uncertainty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145520229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Individuals can engage in sustainable economic activities both as investors and consumers. To examine their dual roles in promoting sustainability, we analyze preferences for sustainable investment compared to green consumption through a survey of Japanese individuals. We find no substantial difference in non-monetary motivations for sustainable activities, as the proportion of respondents choosing sustainable investments with low returns is comparable to that for green consumption with high price. Furthermore, environmental orientation has a common effect on both sustainable investment and green consumption. Specifically, individuals with high environmental orientation prefer sustainable investments with low returns and also green consumption at high product prices. However, environmental orientation has no significant effect on risky sustainable investments, indicating that strong pro-environmental awareness may not be sufficient to overcome the risks associated with investment activities.
{"title":"Dual effects of individuals’ sustainability orientation on investment and consumption: Evidence from environmental issues in Japan","authors":"Hiroyuki Aman , Norihiro Kasuga , Taizo Motonishi , Chisako Yamane","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individuals can engage in sustainable economic activities both as investors and consumers. To examine their dual roles in promoting sustainability, we analyze preferences for sustainable investment compared to green consumption through a survey of Japanese individuals. We find no substantial difference in non-monetary motivations for sustainable activities, as the proportion of respondents choosing sustainable investments with low returns is comparable to that for green consumption with high price. Furthermore, environmental orientation has a common effect on both sustainable investment and green consumption. Specifically, individuals with high environmental orientation prefer sustainable investments with low returns and also green consumption at high product prices. However, environmental orientation has no significant effect on risky sustainable investments, indicating that strong pro-environmental awareness may not be sufficient to overcome the risks associated with investment activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145520228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101331
Yudai Higashi , Masaru Sasaki
This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated the occupational mismatch between job seekers and vacancies in the Japanese labor market. We particularly investigate how occupational vulnerability and labor market segmentation by employment type (full-time versus part-time) affected mismatch dynamics during the pandemic. We estimate the mismatch indices across occupations by vulnerability and employment type using the method developed by Şahin et al. (2014). We find that the pandemic induced mismatch across occupations with a high risk of infection and occupations in which it is easy to work remotely for both full- and part-time workers. Furthermore, mismatch across occupations in which it is particularly difficult to work remotely increased for full-time workers.
{"title":"Did COVID-19 deteriorate mismatch in the Japanese labor market?","authors":"Yudai Higashi , Masaru Sasaki","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101331","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101331","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated the occupational mismatch between job seekers and vacancies in the Japanese labor market. We particularly investigate how occupational vulnerability and labor market segmentation by employment type (full-time versus part-time) affected mismatch dynamics during the pandemic. We estimate the mismatch indices across occupations by vulnerability and employment type using the method developed by Şahin et al. (2014). We find that the pandemic induced mismatch across occupations with a high risk of infection and occupations in which it is easy to work remotely for both full- and part-time workers. Furthermore, mismatch across occupations in which it is particularly difficult to work remotely increased for full-time workers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101331"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145466839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101330
Peter J. Morgan , Trinh Q. Long , Kunhyui Kim
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting falls in demand are severely affecting Asian households. At the same time, governments implemented aid programs to support households and businesses. To better understand these impacts, we carried out two waves of interviews of households in seven ASEAN countries. The following factors contributed to declines in expenditure and the experience of financial difficulty: being in a lower-income group, lower education of household head, female household head, job loss, and location in a lockdown area. The amount of government aid received relative to pre-pandemic income was much higher for lower-income groups. We find a positive effect of government aid on reducing the experience of financial difficulty.
{"title":"Impacts of COVID-19 on households in ASEAN countries: Medium-run impacts and their implications for human capital development","authors":"Peter J. Morgan , Trinh Q. Long , Kunhyui Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101330","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101330","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting falls in demand are severely affecting Asian households. At the same time, governments implemented aid programs to support households and businesses. To better understand these impacts, we carried out two waves of interviews of households in seven ASEAN countries. The following factors contributed to declines in expenditure and the experience of financial difficulty: being in a lower-income group, lower education of household head, female household head, job loss, and location in a lockdown area. The amount of government aid received relative to pre-pandemic income was much higher for lower-income groups. We find a positive effect of government aid on reducing the experience of financial difficulty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101330"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145364597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-28DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101329
Willem Thorbecke , Chen Chen , Nimesh Salike
China’s exports increased from $62 billion in 1990 to $3.6 trillion in 2022. This surge has generated protectionism abroad. Researchers found that renminbi appreciations in earlier years decreased China’s exports. This paper presents time series and panel data evidence indicating that both real effective and bilateral real exchange rates after the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) no longer affect aggregate exports. It also finds that almost all individual export categories were sensitive to exchange rates before the GFC but that less than half are afterwards. These results imply that, if policymakers in China and the rest of the world want to influence China’s trade, they need to use instruments other than exchange rates.
{"title":"The diminishing impact of exchange rates on China’s exports","authors":"Willem Thorbecke , Chen Chen , Nimesh Salike","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101329","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101329","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China’s exports increased from $62 billion in 1990 to $3.6 trillion in 2022. This surge has generated protectionism abroad. Researchers found that renminbi appreciations in earlier years decreased China’s exports. This paper presents time series and panel data evidence indicating that both real effective and bilateral real exchange rates after the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) no longer affect aggregate exports. It also finds that almost all individual export categories were sensitive to exchange rates before the GFC but that less than half are afterwards. These results imply that, if policymakers in China and the rest of the world want to influence China’s trade, they need to use instruments other than exchange rates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101329"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145195890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101322
Chun-Fu Hsu , Cho-Han Su , Kuo-I Chang
Japan has been addressed the largest market for cut flower imports and consumption in Asia. Since 2000, the floral industry in Japan has faced a decline in production due to an aging workforce and rising costs, while domestic demand for cut flowers has remained stable. The supply-demand gap has been boosted by increasing imports. The import and household consumption survey data from January 2002 to December 2021 and dynamic EC-AIDS model are employed to estimate the expenditure, own-price compensated, and cross-price elasticities between domestic and imported cut flowers in Japan. Our findings show that domestic floral business promotion policy enacted since 2014 had no significant impacts on structural change of demand between imported and domestic cut flowers. The empirical results indicate that domestic cut flowers in Japan are substitutes for those from major import source countries, though the degree of substitutions are limited. Notably, not only the complementary relationship of orchids but also an expenditure elasticity with 2.62 of Chrysanthemum between Japan and Taiwan, suggesting a greater sustainable potential in the Japanese Market.
{"title":"Towards sustainable floral business in Japan: Evidence from dynamic demand system between domestic and imported cut flowers","authors":"Chun-Fu Hsu , Cho-Han Su , Kuo-I Chang","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Japan has been addressed the largest market for cut flower imports and consumption in Asia. Since 2000, the floral industry in Japan has faced a decline in production due to an aging workforce and rising costs, while domestic demand for cut flowers has remained stable. The supply-demand gap has been boosted by increasing imports. The import and household consumption survey data from January 2002 to December 2021 and dynamic EC-AIDS model are employed to estimate the expenditure, own-price compensated, and cross-price elasticities between domestic and imported cut flowers in Japan. Our findings show that domestic floral business promotion policy enacted since 2014 had no significant impacts on structural change of demand between imported and domestic cut flowers. The empirical results indicate that domestic cut flowers in Japan are substitutes for those from major import source countries, though the degree of substitutions are limited. Notably, not only the complementary relationship of orchids but also an expenditure elasticity with 2.62 of Chrysanthemum between Japan and Taiwan, suggesting a greater sustainable potential in the Japanese Market.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101322"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144861338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101320
Kiichi Tokuoka
Using Japanese household data, this study tests the hypothesis that experiencing growth in land prices over a lifetime influences homeownership. To test this experience hypothesis, this study calculates the lifelong weighted average of real land price growth while estimating a parameter that determines the shape of the weight function. The study then corroborates the results using US data. The results — using both Japanese and US data — support the hypothesis and are consistent with the belief channel; that is, experiencing price growth affects homeownership by influencing expectations of returns from housing investment.
{"title":"Do lifelong experiences of land prices affect homeownership in Japan?","authors":"Kiichi Tokuoka","doi":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101320","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.japwor.2025.101320","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using Japanese household data, this study tests the hypothesis that experiencing growth in land prices over a lifetime influences homeownership. To test this experience hypothesis, this study calculates the lifelong weighted average of real land price growth while estimating a parameter that determines the shape of the weight function. The study then corroborates the results using US data. The results — using both Japanese and US data — support the hypothesis and are consistent with the belief channel; that is, experiencing price growth affects homeownership by influencing expectations of returns from housing investment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46744,"journal":{"name":"Japan and the World Economy","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101320"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144580387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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