This paper examines whether search and matching frictions in labor markets can account for cross-country differences in business cycle properties. The particular interest is the joint effect of two institutional variables, employment protection and the replacement income of unemployed workers. I...

Bank competition and financial stability is a recurrent research issue, and researchers have begun to shed light on the competition effect on systemic-risk. Japan is an interesting case in this venue since its regional banking system has confronted intensified competition and there is growing...

The purpose of this paper is to apply spatial econometrics, a new statistical tool that has recently attracted much attention, to Japanese land-price data and investigate how land-price movements are determined in Japan. A strong emphasis is put on measuring the degree of spatial correlation of...

A long-term disinflationary trend is widely observed all over the world. Since the mid-1990s, this trend has been more pronounced in industrial countries and many emerging economies in Asia. Japan is faced with a deflation problem. Emerging economies in Asia and several industrial countries,...