CIRJE Conferences 2014

"Public Goods Provision in the Early Modern Economy: Role of the Regional Society in Japan, China and Europe "

  • March 21, 22 and 23, 2015
  • Kojima Conference Room, Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), The University of Tokyo
  • Program

This conference discussed the public goods provision in the early modern economy in the light of comparative historical approach. Fifteen participants presented their papers, followed by comments from four discussants. The contents of the workshops are as follows.

Session I: Public Finance and Regional Society in Early Modern Japan
Session II: Coping with Poverty and Famine
Session III: Building the Infrastructure
Session IV: Managing the Forest
Session V:Towards a Comparative History of Public Goods Provision-State, Domain and Regional Society

The first session tries to measure to what extent the regional society played a role in providing public goods in early modern Japan, by analyzing the public finance of Tokugawa shogunate and domains, and discusses the autonomy of the regional society promoted by local notables. The following three sessions dealt with main fields of public goods provision such as infrastructure building, poverty and famine relief and forest management. Through these sessions, it is revealed that not only the size and nature of the public goods, but also the difference of social structure influenced greatly the ways and volume of public goods provision in each society.

TCER Conference "Unconventional Policy and Emerging Economies"

  • Sponsors:
    Tokyo Center for Economic Research （TCER）
    JSPS Core-to-Core Program, B. Asia-Africa Science Platform
    The Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE)
    The Institute of Statistical Research
    The Developing Economies
  • March 5, 2015
  • Kojima Conference Room, Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), The University of Tokyo
  • Program

TCER Conference "Unconventional Policy and Emerging Economies " was held at the Kojima Conference Room in the University of Tokyo on March 5, 2015. The conference discussed what effects recent unconventional monetary policies in advanced economies have had on the rest of the world. A number of previous studies suggested that highly accommodative monetary policy in the United States has created major challenges for policymakers in the rest of the world, especially in emerging market economies (EMEs). However, it has also been widely pointed that the effects of unconventional monetary policies are highly heterogeneous across countries. We had fruitful discussions on the effects of unconventional monetary policies on EMEs in the conference. The papers presented in the conference will be published in The Developing Economies (DE) after reviewed by anonymous referees.

The 11th Joint conference of Seoul National University and University of Tokyo
Labor Market and Consumer Issues in East Asia

  • Organizers:
    The Institute of Economic Research, Seoul National University
    CIRJE, The Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy
  • November 14, 2014
  • Venue: Seminar Room16-312, College of Social Scienes, Seoul National University
  • Program

The Joint Conference with Seoul National University (SNU) was held at Seminar Room, Department of Economics, Seoul National University on November 14 (Friday), 2014. This was the eleventh annual conference between CIRJE and Institute of Economic Research in SNU. The theme of the conference was "Labor Market and Consumer Issues in East Asia". After welcome speeches by Keun Lee (Director, Institute of Economic Research, SNU) and Biung-Ghi Ju (Director, Center for Distributive Justice, SNU), we had wonderful speakers and fruitful discussions on the related issues. From University of Tokyo, Andrew S. Griffen and Seung-Gyu (Andrew) Sim presented a paper, while Shin-ichi Fukuda, Ryuichi Tanaka, and Daniel Marszalec served as a discussant. From SNU, Chulhee Lee and Keunkwan Ryu presented a paper, while Chul-In Lee and Young Sik Kim served as a discussant. Under growing population aging, 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 what structural reforms are desirable in East Asia and how to design 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.

CIRJE Special Seminar

  • Organizer:
    Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE), University of Tokyo
  • Co-Organizers:
    Empirical Micro Research Seminar
    Rationality and Society Workshop
    Research Meeting on Economic History,
    Public Economics Workshop, Microeconomics Workshop, The Applied Statistics Workshop,
    and Department of Technology Management for Innovation, University of Tokyo
  • October 6, 2014
  • Venue: Kojima Conference Room, Economics Research Annex (Kojima Hall), The University of Tokyo


We invited Professor James J. Heckman of Chicago University, who is a Nobel laureate in economics in 2000, and held a conference from 10:00-6:00 on October 6. Young researchers (Andrew Griffen, Seung-Gyu Sim, Michal Fabinger, Michio Suzuki, and Kengo Kato) gave 45 minutes presentations on empirical studies in economics using micro-data and on econometrics, which is Professor Heckman’s research field. The speakers received fruitful comments from Professor Heckman and also from other participants. At 4:30PM to 6:00PM, Professor Heckman presented his current research titled “The Market and Nonmarket Returns to Education." The paper aims to integrate non-structural models into a structural model. About 100 participants from inside and outside the campus attended this seminar.

APEA Conference 2014

  • July 11 and 12, 2014
  • Venue: The Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
  • Program

Co-hosted by Thammasat University, Thailand, the 2014 APEA Conference was held at The Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok Thailand on July 11-12, 2014. The purpose of the APEA conference is to encourage economic research on international economics in the Asia-Pacific region through promoting interactions among economists in the region and in other parts of the world. We had intensive and fruitful discussions on the related topics including unconventional monetary policy in Japan. At the end of the conference, we confirmed the need for more forums for economists to share their research work with others, to interact with other economists, to search for more research opportunities and topics, and to make policy recommendations.

Workshop on Advances in Microeconometrics 2014

  • Organizers:
    Hidehiko Ichimura, University of Tokyo
    Katsumi Shimotsu, University of Tokyo
    Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE), University of Tokyo
  • June 28 and 29, 2014
  • Venue: Gora Seiunso
  • Program

In this conference, fourteen Japanese econometricians who are affiliated with universities in and outside Japan presented their recent research results. Many Japanese econometricians conduct research actively at universities outside Japan, but there are few opportunities for them to meet each other and have a deep discussion, and even fewer opportunities for them to meet econometricians in Japan and have a deep discussion. This conference served as a focal point for Japanese econometricians in overseas and Japan, and a lively discussion and exchanges of information are conducted. Presentations were given on a wide range of topics including asymptotic theory, empirical likelihood, treatment effect, dynamic panel data analysis, program evaluation, model selection, and finite mixture models. The participants' affiliation includes the following universities: London School of Economics, University of Aarhus, Johns Hopkins University, National University of Singapore, Boston University, University College of London, University of British Columbia, Tokyo Institute of Technology, GRIPS, Kyoto University, Hiroshima University, University of Tokyo, and Otaru University of Commerce.