Using panel data from two surveys in Japan and Europe, we examine the comparability of the self-rated health (SRH) 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)...

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 in a lifecycle model. We show that the optimal retirement age depends on the beneficiaries'...

The paper aims at quantifying the higher-order expectations that Keynes (1936) compared to the beauty contest, applying a measure of relative entropy to the Japanese ESP Forecast Survey data during the deflationary period. We conclude that during the deflationary period from June 2009 to April...

This paper examines the factors that lie behind the couples' declining number of children and desire for children, associating among living environment, economic situation, and husband and wife’s consciousness and sense of value. Data for this paper was compiled through a web-based...

Being healthy is one of the most important factors that affect the degree of human happiness. In an aging society, deaths due to cancer tend to increase. When considering the improvement of wealth of the aging society in Southeast Asia, the international transfer of Japanese R&D results and...

Less and late marriage and declining fertility of married couples are considered to be factors behind Japanese falling birth rate. The change in couple’s reproductive behavior is possibly related to couples’ economic and living situation including employment status of wives, educational...

This paper examines the association among employment status and attitudes to marriage, family and job focusing on non-regular employees. Data for this paper was compiled through a web-based questionnaire survey, conducted in September and October 2011. Chapter 1 introduces results of the survey;...

The future of Japanese society is going to depend on two trends: the rapid aging of our citizens, which is unprecedented in human history, and something called “individual editorial control”. These trends—like them or not—have permeated deeply into Japan. We need to develop innovative...

Directional analysis is employed to evaluate the rationality and usefulness of a data set of monthly forecasts for the coincident index in ESRI's Indexes of Business Conditions by professional forecasters.　Using Japanese　ESP Forecast Survey data, our findings indicate that consensus...

Taking advantage of annual panel data on farm households collected by the Statistical Survey on Farm Management and Economy, this paper investigates whether a retirement consumption puzzle can be observed in Japan and, given that this is the case, what the reasons are. Our long-run panel data...