This study examines the determinants of individuals' preferences for trade policies, using micro data of 10,000 individuals selected from Japan's general population. In particular, we focus on the role of regional factors that influence trade policy preferences, considering the fact that there...

Market openness improves the efficiency of business operations through various channels, and firms' usage of imported intermediate goods is one of such conduits. This paper empirically examines the effects of import of intermediates on Japanese manufacturers' productivity and profitability by...

Chinese exports dramatically increased in the early 2000s as China reformed its economy to become more free and open via its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), which clearly affected the productivity and exports of Chinese firms. This paper, using firm-level panel data from the...

Reciprocity has been an influential principle leading actual trade liberalization, while unilateral trade liberalization has been politically unpopular in spite of gains from trade. Based on a survey of 10,816 individuals in Japan, we disaggregate people into four categories by their opinions on...

This paper examines the determinants of individuals' preferences of trade policies, using micro data on the policy preferences of 10,000 individuals in Japan. Particularly, we focus on the effect of regional factors on trade policy preferences, considering the fact that there is a significant...

The standard model in the literature indicates that heterogeneity in productivity and fixed costs is the key in determining firms' internationalization. However, few studies have considered the effect of ownership structure on firms' exporting and foreign direct investment (FDI). This study...

This paper examines how productivity heterogeneity affects the sorting of export and foreign direct investment (FDI) of Japanese firms in North America and Europe. The statistical analysis based on the firm-level data of 12,000 Japanese firms presents new and interesting results: the ranking of...

Japanese shares of export and manufacturing value added in the global market have declined significantly, whereas those in China have risen sharply. Recent increase of global offshoring is noteworthy as a factor to cause changes in the structure of international trade and the production-depth....

Offshoring requires firms to have strong corporate headquarters for monitoring and contracting with suppliers. This paper exploits the unique Japanese firm-level data, which categorizes the type of offshore supplier as: own FDI subsidiaries, subsidiaries owned by other Japanese firms, and...

In offshoring, a firm chooses outsourcing to independent suppliers or in-sourcing from their FDI subsidiaries. This paper empirically examines how the factor intensity is related with the firm's offshore make-or-buy decision based on the Japanese direct firm-level data of offshoring across all...