This study uses contingent valuation to measure Japanese customers' willingness-to-pay to maintain combinations of five telecommunication services that are considered substitutes if universal service is defined on the basis of functionality. The analysis revealed the following results. First,...

This paper examines the influence of local loop unbundling (LLU) on incumbent telecommunications operators' investment in their respective telecommunications networks in OECD countries. In addition, the background of the influence is analyzed from both qualitatie and quantitative aspects. The...

This study's empirical analysis shows that the consumers' switching costs when changing SNS are less than that when changing BB service. SNS switching cost is estimated at JPY 944, while that in BB service is estimated at JPY 2864 (JPY 80 = USD 1 on 21st May 2012). According to these results,...

The article describes the history of the process of automation in the Japanese Patent Office which will lead eventually to the establishment of a paperless system which is already well under way and will be fully operational from 1993. The system will include: automation of patent and utility...

Although railway services have been suffering financially due to modal shifts and aging populations, they have been, and will continue to be, an essential component of nations' basic social infrastructures. Since railway firms generate positive externalities, and are required to operate in...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what type of firm chooses long-term loans when the manager maximizes his expected payoff. Our theoretical model extends previous models in the following four respects. First, we allow the case where firms have internal funds. Second, we explicitly...