Preface -- Contents -- Part I The Formation of Free Trade Agreements -- 1 Expansion of Free Trade Agreements, Overlapping Free Trade Agreements, and Market Size -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Model -- 1.3 Preliminary Results -- 1.3.1 Initial Situation: No FTA -- 1.3.2 Feasibility of Bilateral...

This paper constructs a simple Malthusian model to explain per capita income differences in the Malthusian era by focusing on regional variations in the expansion of the commercial sector. This paper shows that a larger productivity improvement in the skilled intensive commercial sector relative...

This paper first presents the optimal conditions for strategic R&D investment policy in the cases of noncooperative and cooperative R&D investment policies with international rivalry. Then we deal with a model of strategic product (i.e., quality-improving) R&D investment competition. In...

In economically developed countries, aging of the population with fewer children is progressing. Social security benefits such as pensions and elderly care are increasing. In a society with fewer children, it is difficult for a government to provide sufficient pension benefits for older people...

We investigate a Stackelberg oligopoly model in which m leaders and N-m followers compete. We find an asymmetric welfare implication of the Stackelberg model. Introducing a small number of leaders into the Cournot model can reduce welfare. However, introducing a small number of followers into...

In this paper, we consider a duopoly model where two firms sell two differentiated products and there is a network externality between either carriers or machines. We derive the equilibria of these games and illustrate the effects of a change in quality on the equilibrium quantity of each good....

This paper develops a model of an export oligopoly to examine the welfare effects of an export tax reduction and a production tax increase that makes the foreign country no-worse off. Whether or not entry into the oligopolistic industry is free, the proposed policy reform is shown to reduce...

This paper examines the monitoring of illegal trade, and restrictions on the legal trade, of secondhand goods. We assume that the home (foreign) country exports (imports) secondhand goods both legally and illegally. We demonstrate that when the trade restriction is nonbinding, and part of the...

This paper studies the role played by the social norms of working hours in a household labor- leisure and fertility decision model. We suppose that social norms enforce workers not to deviate from the ideal level of working hours, which depends on past and current observations of working hours...

We analyze a simple task-assignment model in which a principal assigns a task to one of two agents depending on the state. If the agents have standard concave utility, the principal assigns the task to an agent with the highest productivity in each state. In contrast, if the agents are loss...