The authors analyze whether the US-Japan Trade Agreement is consistent with GATT Article XXIV that carves out an exception to the WTO's "Most-Favored Nation" (MFN) principle. They conclude that the agreement is unlikely to meet the "substantially all the trade" criterion of GATT Article XXIV...

We exploit the natural experiment of Japan's opening to international trade to examine how comparative advantage can shape a country's long-run path towards financial development. In the late 19th century, many of Japan's prefectures had a natural comparative advantage in silk reeling. Producing...

We investigate the fiscal impacts of earthquakes in Japan. In contrast with earlier papers from elsewhere which examine national level aggregate spending, we are able to provide a detailed examination of separate budget categories within the local governments’ fiscal accounts. We do this using...

In this paper we build a quality-augmented version of an economic geography model whereconsumers have heterogenous tastes for a set of manufacturing varieties. We discuss afootloose capital model and a footloose entrepreneur model. We show that firms selling thegoods with higher values select...