This paper examined the determinants of the backward vertical linkages of Japanese foreign affiliates in manufacturing for the period 1994-2000, focusing on the local backward linkages, or local procurements. We found that the experience of the affiliate, which is measured by the length of...

This paper asks two questions. 1) Do multinational enterprises (MNEs) present different patterns of employment from domestic firms? 2) Do workers in MNEs face a higher risk of losing jobs? We distinguish two types of MNEs (i.e., Japanese MNEs and foreign-owned firms) and utilize firm-level data...

Authors analyze the pattern of intrafirm transfer of management technology from Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) to their overseas affiliates by using firm-level micro data and discern the determinants of the extent of technology transfer achieved. Defining intrafirm transfer of...

This paper examines the role of multinational firms in international trade, using firm-level panel data for Japanese firms between 1994 and 2000. Our results indicate that multinational firms dominate Japanese trade. In 2000, only 13.8 percent of Japanese firms were multinationals but they...

This study is a first attempt of shedding a light on market dynamics in Japanese retail industry at establishment level using micro dataset from census survey. Entry and exit of establishment and its impact on productivity is investigated by using Retail and Wholesale Census by METI in 1997 and...

Surprisingly, nearly 70 percent of Japanese manufacturing firms do not invest in Research and Development (R&D). Using firm-level longitudinal data in Japan, this paper asks why many firms can achieve high productivity growth without any R&D investments. We found the positive effects of...

This paper examines the pre-exit productivity performance and asks how productivity affects future survival, controlling for firm size and unobserved firm heterogeneity. Based on firm-level data in Japan for 1995-002, we found that firms did not face "sudden death" but there was a "shadow of...

This paper presents a computational analysis of the potential economic effects of trade liberalization in various regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) that have been negotiated in recent years and the negotiations currently in process, as well as the effects of global...

The paper identifies the changes in the nature of regional economic integration in East Asia from "market-led" to "institution-led" integration in the late 1990s. Before the late 1990s active foreign trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) mainly resulting from trade and FDI liberalization led...