We developed a competitive search model involving multiple regions, geographically mobile workers, and moving costs. Equilibrium mobility patterns were analyzed and characterized, and the results indicate that shocks to a particular region, such as a productivity shock, can propagate to other...

This study investigates the localization of establishment-level knowledge creation by using data from the Japanese patent database. Using distance-based methods, we obtained the following results. First, Japanese patent-creating establishments are significantly localized at the 5% level, with...

This study empirically investigates the determinants of the productivity of knowledge creation by collaboration. By using the Japanese patent database, we extracted establishment-level patent co-invention information and found the following results. First, we find an inverse U-shaped pattern in...

Using a unique dataset of more than 140,000 manufacturing firms in Japan containing information on their suppliers and customers, this paper looks at the physical distances between transaction partners to examine the localization of transaction relationships. We find the following. First, based...

This paper empirically examines whether the geographical proximity of transaction partners improves firms' profits by using actual microdata on inter-firm transactions. I model the formation of transaction partners between newly entering firms and existing ones as a two-sided, many-to-many...

In this paper, geographical spillover potential is modeled and empirically examined using factory-level data from Japan's Census of Manufactures. First, the efficiency of each factory is estimated using a non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) model for each industry. Second, the...

The national treatment obligation, along with most favored nation obligation, is an important principle of non-discrimination adopted by the WTO. It requires that foreign products be treated no less favorably than national products. This paper empirically examines the 1996 WTO recommendation...

The Great East Japan Earthquake indirectly inflicted damages broadly through severing supply chain network as well as massive direct damages, and it was pointed out that many firms sought new suppliers in response to the severed supply chain network. This paper empirically investigates the...

Plants in clusters are often more productive than those located in non-clusters. This has been explained by agglomeration effects that improve productivity of all plants in a region. However, recent theoretical development of trade and spatial economic theories with heterogeneous firms has shed...

This paper examines the extent of localization in Japan's manufacturing sector using a unique firm-level dataset on the geographic location of firms. Following the point-pattern approach proposed by Duranton and Overman (2005), we find the following. First, approximately half of Japan's...