Exploiting an ideal experiment situation, this paper provides clear evidence of consumption smoothing against an anticipated income change. Until FY2002, Japanese public employees received large and predictable bonus payments three times a year, but the third bonus in March was abolished in...

This paper uses a unique census data on Japanese nursing homes to evaluate the determinants of nursing home exit and the price elasticity of the institutional care. We take two approaches to address these by making use of micro-level data from Kaigo Service Shisetsu Zigyousho Chousa (Survey on...

This study takes advantage of micro-level information to make a projection of demand for at-home care services in Japan. We have observed a rapid increase in demand for long-term care services after 2001, a large part of which came from an increase in demand for at-home care services. Thus, an...

This is the first study that uses facility-level data to evaluate the cost efficiency of the child care market in Japan after controlling for quality of services. Japanese households in urban areas suffer from a severe undersupply of child care, and inefficient operation in public centers is...

In March, 1999, the Japanese Government handed out "shopping coupons" worth 20,000 yen (about 200 dollars) to families for every child under the age of 15 and to roughly half of Japan's elderly population. In total, 25 percent of Japan's population received the coupons. The coupons expired after...

The Japanese economy in the 1990s experienced a substantial decrease in the nominal interest rate. The positive effect on the business investment, however, should have been canceled out, since deflationary expectations raised the real cost of capital. In this study, we address this unexplored...

This study is the first comprehensive empirical assessment on wage determinants of child care workers in Japan. In particular, this paper focuses on the sectoral wage differentials among publicly owned and licensed private facilities and the wage-age profile among different types of management....

Like other developed countries, Japan currently has been experiencing a rapid increase in medical care costs. It is one of imperative interests for the government to find an effective way of balancing the quality and costs of medical care. As of 2003, the Economic and Social Research Institute...

The main object of this study is to investigate how treatment patterns and patient outcomes vary among medical facilities in Japan. We take advantage of a unique survey on 3,502 patients with acute myocardial infarction treated by PTCA (Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty) in 2003....

PART I : Are Nonprofit Earnings Differentials Observed in Japan? Evidence from Micro-level Data in Japanese Nursing Homes This research is the first empirical assessment on the wage differentials between the nonprofit sector and profit sector in Japanese nursing homes, and makes use of the...