Using Japanese prefecture-level data for the years 1979 and 1996, I explore the extent to which inequality, age heterogeneity, and human capital have an effect upon neighborhood trust, which is ordinarily considered as a kind of particularized trust. The major findings are as follows: (1) Income...

In the present paper, the inverted-U shape relationship between growth and inequality found in Chen(2003), is reexamined. We decompose productivity growth into efficiency improvement, capital accumulation and technological progress and then ascertain their determinants by employing a fixed...

This paper explores how a trust in government shared by neighbors is associated with individual preferences for income redistribution and individual perceptions regarding income tax burden. Three measures for trust in government are used: “trust in ministries and government agencies”,...

This paper explores how individual preferences for income redistribution are influenced by social capital, which is measured by rates of participation in community activities. I combined individual-level data and place of residence data to examine how social capital accumulated in residential...

This paper uses individual level data (the Japanese General Social Survey) to examine how government size influences generalized trust. After controlling for the endogeneity of government size using instrumental variables, I found: (1) Using all samples, government size is not associated with...

This paper uses individual-level data from Japan (2003) to examine the effects of government size and the disclosure of official government information on happiness. The major findings are as follows. (1) Disclosure of official information is positively associated with the happiness of workers,...

This paper uses data from Japan to ascertain the determinants of government information disclosures by considering the role of special interest groups and government size. A IV-Tobit model is employed to control for endogeneity bias of government size. The major findings are as follows: (1)...

This paper explores how individual preferences for income redistribution are influenced by social capital, which is measured by rates of participation in community activities. Individual-level data and place of residence data were combined to examine how social capital accumulated in residential...

Empirical results through a fixed effects regression model show that government size has a negative effect on growth mainly through hampering capital accumulation. When a sample is divided into OECD and non-OECD countries, the negative effect of government size on capital accumulation persists...

This paper uses Japanese prefecture-level data for the years 1979 and 1996 to examine how the relationship between government size and life satisfaction changes. The major findings are: (1) Government size has a detrimental effect on life satisfaction when government size impedes economic growth...