This paper empirically investigates the determinants of subordinated debt issuance by Japanese regional banks during the period 2000-2005 using a probit model. The empirical results suggest the following: (i) Throughout the period, Japanese regional banks with a lower capital/asset ratio have a...

There have been opposing conclusions in the literature as to whether lender liability increases the probability of environmentally harmful accidents. This paper shows that s multiplicity of equilibria is the key to solve such contradictory conclusions.

In this paper, we analyze the effects of population aging on economic growth and the environment in a two-period overlapping generations model of growth, aging, and the environment. We show that aging may be beneficial to economic growth and the environment under perfect annuitisation, while...

Conventional approaches to fiscal decentralization suggest that decentralization lowers the power of redistribution, but recent theories argue that fiscal decentralization can work as a commitment device. The former effect is argued to cause an increase in inter-county inequality, while the...

Some papers have disputed when cost differentials among privately provided public goods make income transfer policy effective. This paper clarifies the different assumptions underlying this disputation and shows that original cost equalization is a necessary and sufficient condition to hold the...

This paper considers a simple dynamic decentralized leadership model with local borrowing and regional productivity enhancing investment. The central government is benevolent but cannot commit. The local governments strategically act while accounting for the ex post motive of the central...

Theoretical studies suggest that corruption may counteract government failure and promote economic growth in the short run, given exogenously determined sub optimal bureaucratic rules and regulations. As the government failure is itself a function of corruption, however, corruption should have...

Theoretical studies suggest that corruption may counteract government failure and promote economic growth in the short run, given exogenously determined suboptimal bureaucratic rules and regulations. As the government failure is itself a function of corruption, however, corruption should have...

While conventional approaches to fiscal decentralization suggest that decentralization lowers the power of redistribution among regions, recent theories argue that fiscal decentralization works as a commitment device. In this manner, where the budget in a given region is highly dependent on...

In his seminal work on fiscal federalism, Oates (1972) addressed the socalled Decentralization Theorem, which states that, if such factors as scale economies and spillovers are left out of consideration, a decentralized system is always more efficient than a centralized system for the supply of...