This paper examined the effects of restrictions on both the demand and supply sides of the health sector in Japan over a certain time period. Because the effect of supply side restrictions could not be taken into account in previous studies, we employed econometric time series techniques to...

Despite a decrease in the number of working generations supporting Japan's social security system, the relationship between public pension benefits and health care expenditures since the inception of universal health insurance system has not been explored. We obtained one stable long-run...

Background: Half of Japanese workers are physically inactive, but there are no studies on the relation between the leisure-time physical inactivity of Japanese workers and their socioeconomic status. The proportion of female workers who are physically inactive has been larger than that of male...

In Japan, economic stagnation due to the lack of aggregate demand has hit the regional health insurance system and this affects most retired pensioners. The fiscal state of insurers in rural areas deteriorated. This paper aims to investigate whether the regional disparities in medical levies per...

Personal lifestyle choices such as leisure-time physical activity are major determinants of both the health and happiness of individuals. However, price discrimination exists between municipalities at almost public sports facilities. An economic intervention to change the cost of using public...