This paper provides a theoretical model to address the issue of how industrialization affects the structure of international trade. Considering both horizontal and vertical product differentiation, the model shows that intra-industry trade increases when product quality improvement emerges in a...

This paper surveys the recent literature on the Japanese distribution system to consider two propositions: first, that the system is inefficient, and second that prices of imported products tend to be higher in Japan than in other markets. Most of the literature demonstrates that the system is...

Using the international input-output tables between Japan and five Pacific Basin countries (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) for the years 1975 and 1985, the paper examines the trade structure in 1975 and how it had shifted by 1985. It shows that intra-industry trade in...

This chapter highlights exchange-traded funds (ETF) purchases conducted by the Bank of Japan under Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing with Yield Curve Control. The policy to purchase stocks indirectly is unprecedented in terms of both scale and duration among major central banks. The...

This paper highlights exchange-traded funds (ETF) purchases conducted by the Bank of Japan under Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing with Yield Curve Control. The policy to indirectly purchase stocks is unprecedented in terms of the scale and duration among major central banks. The...

Unconventional monetary easing conducted by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) since 2013 has contributed to the yen's depreciation, higher stock prices, and higher corporate profits. Meanwhile, the impacts on aggregate demand and inflation have not been as strong as the BOJ expected while the adverse...