In this paper we analyze the effects of unsustainable public debt on technology choice and economic growth. Unsustainable public debt undermines the credibility of government policy because the government will do whatever necessary to postpone fiscal consolidation, as an incumbent government...

This paper uses survey data collected from North Western Myanmar to analyze business activity and determine the most binding constraints to firm growth. While the level of entrepreneurship is very high, most firms earn low income and are small and informal with no employees. The most binding...

Using the panel data from the 2011 Japanese Longitudinal Survey on Employment and Fertility (LOSEF), this study aims to investigate (i) the determinants of early job separation of male workers who started their working career as regular employees, and (ii) the effects of early job separation on...

This paper constructs an overlapping generations model in order to demonstrate low political intervention and interaction in the working and retired generations affect the allocation rate in future growth-stimulating public investment and the public pension. It also analyzes the possibility of...

Using panel data from two surveys in Japan and Europe, we examine the comparability of the self-rated health of the middle-aged and elderly across Japan and the European countries and the survey periods. We find that a person’s own health is evaluated on different standards (thresholds) across...

This paper explores the public pension claiming behavior of the Japanese. First, we perform financial simulations and estimate the expected utility, depicting the typical patterns of pension benefits over a life cycle. We show that the optimal retirement age depends on the beneficiaries’...

This paper looks for statistical evidence of match-rigging by yokozuna (grand champions) in Japanese sumo, which previous studies have not yet examined. The results suggest that yokozuna, too, have been involved in match-rigging, suggesting that economic incentives play an important role in...