The effects of the new fiscal rule and creative accounting: Empirical evidence from Japanese municipalities with Hideo Yunoue

The purpose of this paper is to analyse creative accounting by fiscal adjustments in Japanese municipalities after the introduction of a new fiscal rule using a seemingly unrelated regression with the difference in differences method. We contribute to the literature by analysing the interdependency of new fiscal indexes, which include three flow indexes and one stock index, and identifying the causal effects of the new fiscal rule.

Testing for changes in income inequality in Japan

Recently, more attention has been paid to income inequality in Japan as well as that in the world. Tachibanaki (1998, 2005) and Ohtake (2005, 2008) pointed out that inequality in Japan has increased during the 1980s and 90s. The talk reviews recent changes in income inequality in Japan.

In this talk, test statistics are proposed for testing a change in inequality. The test statistics are based on the asymptotic theory of order statistics and grouped income data in Japan. The test statistics enable us to examine changes in income inequality in Japan after the 2000s.

Investigating the forward rate unbiasedness puzzle: Evidence from a meta-analysis

The aim of the presentation is to provide the first results from systematic overview of the forward rate unbiasedness literature using meta-regression analysis. Empirical testing for the forward rate unbiasedness condition (FRUC) has led to one of the most well-known puzzles in empirical finance that concerns frequent rejection of the hypothesis that forward exchange rate is an unbiased predictor of future spot exchange rate.

Income contingent loan scheme and gender income gap in Japan: Will WOMANONICS work to close the gap?

The presentation first show estimates of wage distribution of university graduates in Japan by gender using Labour Force Survey, and estimate the governmental burden of income contingent loan scheme for university education, a scheme following Australia and UK. This estimation is a collaborative work with Prof Lorraine Dearden of City College London. The result shows a large gender wage gap both in lower quantile and higher quantile in Japan, which could cause moral hazard in the income contingent loan repayment. Repayment from household budget was also estimated.

Abenomics and the Bank of Japan

Osaka University of Economics Professor Wataru Takahashi presents the first Australia-Japan Research Centre (AJRC) Seminar Series of Semester 1 2018 entitled ‘Abenomics and the Bank of Japan’, which is co hosted by the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis at the Crawford School of Public Policy

Parental leave and women's skill use on the job

University of Tokyo Professor Daiji Kawaguchi presents the final seminar of the AJRC Seminar Series for Semester 2 entitled ‘Parental leave and womens’ skill use on the job: Evidence from PIAAC’. Kawaguchi will analyse the heterogeneous impacts of parental leave policy on women’s skill-use intensity by skill-level, drawing on microdata from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) that covers 30 countries

Regulation and urban air pollution: evidence from Japan

Japan was the most successful country among the OECD to reduce the emission of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over 1990-2014. This seminar will examine the causal effects of the Automobile NOx Control Law (ANCL) on the ambient concentration of NO2 in urban areas in Japan. We analyse monitor-level data covering 2025 monitors for 1981-2014 by differences-in-differences procedure. The results suggest that the designation under the ANCL has a weak effect on the ‘average’ monitor in designated urban areas, after controlling for weather, socioeconomic factors, and spatial spillover.

Financial market volatility

Australia-Japan Research Centre (AJRC) Visiting Fellow Isao Ishida presents the first seminar of the AJRC Seminar Series for Semester 2 entitled ‘Financial market volatility: An overview of the literature and an introduction of a new approach based on functional data analysis’. Ishida will present a new approach for modelling and forecasting the volatility of equity indices.