CIRJE Conferences 2013

Abenomics: Would the Japanese economy become better?

  • Organizer:
    Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE)
  • Co-organizers:
    Japan Federation of Housing Organizations
  • March 27, 2014
  • Venue: Lecture Hall No.1 on the basement floor of the Economics Research Building, University of Tokyo
  • Program (only in Japanese)

At the first part of plenary session under the chair of Professor Toshihiro Ihori (University of Tokyo) Professor Tatsuo Hatta (Osaka University) presented a keynote speech of a title, "Abenomics and growth strategy including housing policy". At the second part of panel session, three professors made short speech respectively. Namely, Masako Ii (Hitotsubashi University) talked about measures to improve quality and quantity of medical services. Takero Doi (Keio University) explained the desirable tax reform to promote fiscal consolidation. Hiroshi Yoshikawa (University of Tokyo) emphasized the importance of wage increase to get rid of deflation. Then, four panelists, including Professor Hatta, discussed various issues concerning Abenomics and the Japanese economy. Finally, they responded to questions from the floor participants and made concluding remarks on important aspects of housing policy, such as the impact of consumption tax on houses and the tool of stimulating housing market in Japan.

Abenomics

  • Organizer:
    Tokyo Center for Economic Research (TCER)
  • Co-organizers:
    Core-to-Core Program (B. Asia-Africa Science Platforms) by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
    Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE)
  • March 7, 2014
  • Venue: Kojima Conference Room Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), University of Tokyo
  • Program

Abenomics' refers to a new unconventional economic policy regime in Japan since late 2012. It consists of the three arrows: unconventional monetary policy (the first arrow), expansionary fiscal policy (the second arrow), and economic growth strategies to encourage private investment (the third arrow). The purpose of this conference is to discuss the costs and benefits of Abenomics academically. A special issue of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies (JJIE) on the conference theme will be published under the Guest Editorship. Authors whose papers were accepted for presentation at the conference are supposed to submit their papers to the JJIE special issue. Papers submitted for this special issue will undergo the normal journal reviewing process.

The Tenth Joint Conference of Seoul National University and University of Tokyo
Current Topics of Economic Policy

  • Organizers:
    The Institute of Economic Research, Seoul National University
    CIRJE, The Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy
  • November 22, 2013
  • Venue: Kojima Conference Room, Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), University of Tokyo
  • Program

The Joint Conference with Seoul National University (SNU) was held at Kojima Conference Room, Kojima Hall, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo on Friday, November 22, 2013. This was the tenth annual conference series between CIRJE and Institute of Economic Research in SNU. The theme of the conference was "Current Topics of Economic Theory and Policy ", especially issues related with monetary economics and international economics. After welcome speech by Jisoon Lee (Porfessor, Institute of Economic Research, SNU) and Shin-ichi Fukuda (Former Director, CIRJE), we had wonderful speakers and fruitful discussions on the related issues. Akihiko Matsui, Hiroshi Ohashi, Tomohiro Hirano, and Seung-Gyu(Andrew) Sim attended the conference as either a speaker or a discussant from University of Tokyo. From SNU, Jisoon Lee and Young Sik Kim presented their interesting papers, while Elias Sanidas and Jihong Lee served as a discussant. Having experienced a series of economic crisis, the establishment of the architecture of a new economic system in East Asia is now one of the urgent tasks. We had hot discussions on how to design a desirable economic system in the world economy. At the end of the conference, we confirmed further collaborations between CIRJE and Institute of Economic Research in SNU.

International Economic History Workshop for Young Researchers

  • November 8, 2013
  • Venue: Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

From November 6th to 9th 2013, the executive committee members of International Economic History Association(IEHA)will visit Kyoto. Taking this opportunity, the local committee of World Economic History Congress (WEHC) 2015 is organizing the international workshop on Economic history, "Government Policies and the Trajectory of Japanese Economic Development: From the 8th Century to the 20th Century."
The three young Japanese scholars presented their researches on Japanese economic history (listed below). The WEHC 2015 LC would invite the IEHA EC members and other local scholars to comments on those papers and discuss about policies and economic developments from comparative perspectives.

・Masanori Takashima(Hitotsubashi University)
"Estimates of Agricultural Production in Ancient Japan, 725-1150"

・Yasuo Takatsuki (Kobe University)and Masahiko Shibamoto (Kobe University)
"Macroeconomic Policy with Financial Market Stability: The Case of Japan's Early 19th Century"

・Kiyotaka Maeda(Seinan Gakuin University)
"Competition between Imported and Domestic Salt in Japan: Cases of Chemical and Food Industries in the Late 1890s"

The workshop closed with the general comments by Chiaki Moriguchi(Hitotsubashi University).

Economic Measurement Workshop 2013: Data Gaps and Economic Measurement

  • Organizers:
    Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia and University of New South Wales
    Kiyohiko Nishimura, University of Tokyo
    Tsutomu Watanabe, University of Tokyo
    Chihiro Shimizu, Reitaku University and University of British Columbia
    Koji Nomura, Keio University
  • Sponsors:
    University of Tokyo
    Reitaku University
    Hitotsubashi University
    University of British Columbia
    Recruit Housing Institute
  • October 15 and 16, 2013
  • Venue: Sanjo Kaikan, University of Tokyo
  • Program

The first meeting of the EMG Asia Workshop was held at Sanjo Conference Hall at the University of Tokyo on October 15 and 16, 2013. The workshop was divided into four parts focusing on the following topics: (1) the System of National Accounts (SNA), (2) Residential Property Price Indexes (RPPIs) and Commercial Property Price Indexes (CPPIs), (3) Producer Price Indexes (PPIs) and Consumer Price Indexes (CPIs), and (4) new developments in the measurement of CPIs. Each part consisted of a keynote speech and three or four presentations of papers as well as comments from the panelists.

In Sessions I and II on Day 1 of the conference, papers on productivity as well as the construction of RPPIs and CPPIs – topics that have recently attracted considerable attention – were given. Session I (chaired by Prof. Tsutomu Watanabe of the University of Tokyo) included the keynote speech on “Pressing Measurement Issues in the National Accounts” by Dr. Paul Schreyer of the OECD as well as papers by Dr. Marshall Reinsdorf of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Associate Prof. Koji Nomura of Keio University, and Dr. Taehyoung Cho of the Bank of Korea. Focusing on issues related to the revision of national SNAs based on new standards, the presentations, among other things, highlighted difficulties concerning the measurement of cross-border transactions, capital, and financial services.

Session II (chaired by Prof. Yoshitsugu Kanemoto of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) included a lunch speech on “Data Gaps and Economic Measurement” by Prof. Kiyohiko Nishimura, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, followed by two papers by Prof. Chihiro Shimizu of Reitaku University. The session further comprised presentations by Prof. Yongheng Deng, Head of the Department of Real Estate at the National University of Singapore, and Prof. Erwin Diewert of the University of British Columbia, as well as four other papers. Among other things, the presentations focused on recent trends in, and methodological developments in research on, real estate prices, which dropped substantially as a result of the global financial crisis.

The sessions on Day 2 focused primarily on issued related to the measurement of consumer prices. Session III (chaired by Prof. Shigeru Kawasaki of Nihon University) began with the keynote speech on “The Consumer Price Index: Recent Developments” by Prof. Erwin Diewert of the University of British Columbia, followed by papers given by Prof. Kozo Ueda of Waseda University, Mr. Satoshi Imai of the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Prof. Takashi Unayama of the Ministry of Finance.

Finally, Session IV (chaired by Prof. Kevin Fox of the University of New South Wales) consisted of papers given by Prof. Tsutomu Watanabe of the University of Tokyo and Prof. K.W. Chau of the University of Hong Kong. The papers highlighted that in recent years studies both in Japan and abroad have increasingly made use of scanner data, and the presentations were followed by a lively discussion among researchers of the findings obtained in the two papers.

IO Conference at University of Tokyo

  • July 1 and 2, 2013
  • Venue: Kojima Conference Room, Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), University of Tokyo
  • Program

The IO (Industrial Organization) conference was held on July the 1st and 2nd, with ten speakers from various universities from abroad, including Chicago Fed, Johns Hopkins, Minnesota, NYU, Toronto and Yale. Lively discussions flourished among the speakers and audience of large turnout, mostly consisting of graduate students and faculty members from the Economics Department, and researchers from other Japanese universities.