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This paper evaluates the driving forces of urban shrinkage, focusing on transportation infrastructure using a conceptual framework. Employing a difference‐in‐difference approach, this study explores the impact of the high‐speed railway on local shrinkage by focusing on implementing the bullet train in the Kyushu Shinkansen region of Japan. Our results show that after the introduction of the bullet train line, remote peripheral regions suffered population loss while suburban areas near the metropolitan area experienced population growth. Further analysis verifies that the bullet train had a particularly significant negative impact on local employment and establishments in the service sector in remote regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study how related variety influences firm sales. We apply an instrumental variable method (as well as the most recent plausible instrumental variable method in robustness tests) to analyze more than 600,000 firm observations in all of Japan's 47 prefectures. We find that related variety, as a kind of regional industrial structure, has a U‐shaped relationship with firm sales. This finding enriches the related variety perspective by supplementing micro‐level evidence, revealing that the "related variety–firm sales" relationship is not linear, as most prior studies have suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the field's interdisciplinary nature, regional scientists come with a wide spectrum of backgrounds. In this paper, we study the contributions to regional science made by scholars from Japan. First, we briefly examine how Japanese regional scientists came to develop a keen sense towards urban problems. Second, we identify the most influential authors and papers via a citation analysis. The results indicate that scholarly outputs in regional science are reaching a wider audience beyond scientists, while maintaining the order of impact among them. Lastly, we focus on the new economic geography where Japanese scholars have made a significant contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an extended case study of Japan to illustrate how surnames, or family names, can be used as a basis for regionalization. We undertake a comparison between inductively surname regions of Japan with areal geographies based upon both contemporary and historical prefecture (administrative) units. The work is seen as using highly disaggregate framework data to evaluate the integrity of the areal units that are used in regional science. It also is relevant to understanding population distributions, past and present, and the consequences of local, regional and national residential mobility and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the location choice of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China, shedding special light on the role of agglomeration of same-nationality firms. We examine how this role differs according to firms' productivity. Furthermore, we compare the location choice of Japanese and Taiwanese MNEs in China, taking into consideration that Taiwanese MNEs experience less uncertainty in investing in China due to Taiwan's linguistic and cultural advantages. When considering firms' productivity, we find that less productive Japanese firms prefer to locate close to larger same-nationality agglomerations while there are no differences in location choices in the case of Taiwanese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeless people in Osaka City are geographically concentrated. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the hypothesis that the geographic concentration arises from the benefits of homeless networks. A spatial regression model is estimated using data on Osaka City's homeless population by census blocks. The positive coefficient of the spatially lagged dependent variable enables us to explore how a homeless network across census blocks, outweighs a negative competition effect. The estimated results indicate that homeless networks exist in homeless societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional agglomeration theories cannot explain Japan's sustained reduction of regional disparities. This study employs stochastic frontier analysis to investigate the role of inter‐regional networks in improving productive efficiency using the concept of "borrowed size." Improved inter‐regional networks are a driving force for strengthening local economies and converging regional disparities. Borrowed size from large city agglomeration was highly effective in local areas. The development of transportation networks has enabled local areas to catch up to large metropolitan areas. The results suggest that the development of high‐speed transportation networks can help to reduce regional disparities in the Japanese economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on local agglomeration effects on productivity, in which the spatial size-distribution of firms is taken into consideration. The data set is comprised of four-digit firm level data on Japanese manufactures for 2005. The estimation by use of firm data enables us to identify various agglomeration effects. The estimation model is based upon the stochastic frontier (labour) production function approach, in which we examine what type of local agglomeration contributes to improve productive efficiency. The estimation results suggest that for most light industries agglomeration of various sizes of firms is important for productivity rather than the concentration of uniform small size firms. Resumen Este estudio se centra en efectos de aglomeración local sobre la productividad, en los que se tiene en cuenta la distribución del tamaño de las empresas de modo espacial. El conjunto de datos se compone de empresas clasificadas a nivel de cuatro dígitos para manufacturas japonesas en 2005. La estimación mediante el uso de datos de empresas nos permite identificar varios efectos de aglomeración. El modelo estimado está basado en el enfoque de frontera estocástica de la función de producción (mano de obra), en el que examinamos qué tipo de aglomeración local contribuye a mejorar la eficiencia productiva. Los resultados de la estimación sugieren que para la mayoría de la industria ligera la aglomeración de empresas de tamaños diferentes es importante para la productividad, en mayor medida que una concentración de empresas de tamaño pequeño y uniforme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examined whether market access, agglomeration economies and public fiscal transfer have a negative or positive effect on the productive efficiency of the regional industries in Japan. The researchers performed a stochastic frontier analysis of a Japanese data set at a prefecture level which consists of estimated industrial and spatial economic activities from 1980 to 2002. They found that the improvement of market access as well as the agglomeration economies have a positive effect on the efficiency of manufactures.

During the formative years of biotechnology, ‘star’ bioscientists possessed intellectual capital of extraordinary scientific and pecuniary value. In America and Japan, 35 percent of star bioscientists became involved with firms in commercialising their discoveries (a crucial determinant of success) versus 7 percent in Europe. Did star involvement come at expense of scientific progress? No, the publication rate of these ‘involved stars’ increased very significantly whilst actively involved with firms. Furthermore, citations per article were unchanged or significantly increased; so quality was maintained. Top academic scientists and firms working together led to faster commercial and scientific progress – a truly virtuous circle. Durante los años formativos de la biotecnología, los bioinvestigadores “estrella” acumulaban un capital intelectual de extraordinario valor científico y pecuniario. En América y Japón, el 35 por ciento de bioinvestigadores “estrella” se involucraron con empresas en la comercialización de sus descubrimientos (determinante crucial del éxito) comparado con un 7 por ciento en Europa. ¿Fue este involucramiento a costa del progreso científico? No, la tasa de publicación de estos investigadores estrella aumentó muy significativamente mientras que estaban activamente involucrados con dichas empresas. Es más, el número de citas de sus artículos no cambiaron o aumentaron significativamente, y por tanto la calidad se ha mantenido. Los investigadores más eminentes y las empresas punteras trabajando juntos nos llevan más rápidamente al progreso comercial y científico – un círculo virtuoso verdadero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to reconcile previous conflicting findings about the effects of labour cost on the location decisions of foreign investors in China. A conditional logit model is calibrated with its compatible disaggregated firm-level Japanese FDI data. It is hypothesised that previous counter-intuitively positive relationships between labour cost and incoming FDI in China may result from the failures to properly control spatial inflation differentials, labour quality, and quality of life. A Hausman-McFadden test is also conducted to test the robustness of the calibrated models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the Japanese local telecommunications policy is shifting towards solving the problem of the digital divide that accompanies the spread of high-speed and broadband services. The article estimates a translog cost function of two outputs – the standard telephone service and the leased circuit service – and measures the regional gap of those stand-alone costs and incremental costs. The main point we make is that the cost gap for the leased circuit service is larger than that for the standard telephone service among the 11 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) regional offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the lag-augmented vector autoregression approach developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995), we analyse the causal relationships among GDP, private capital, transport user cost, and port capital in Japan, and investigates the dynamic and accumulated effects of port capital formation on other variables from 1966 to 1997. Results from our analysis indicate that the causal relationships between port capital and other variables are significant. Port capital development leads to accrual of considerable magnitudes of both flow and stock effects. We conclude that structural economic effects of forming port capital are substantial for Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a study of how a cable TV channel, run by a small rural town in Japan, influences the awareness and behaviour of its residents. The study is based on a postal survey. Results indicate that the TV programmes increase residents’ interests in the community, communication among residents, and resident participation in public activities. They also show that such effects on the community are influenced by the usefulness of the programmes, viewing frequency, amount of community participation, and certain personal attributes of residents, such as gender, age and household type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Within this analysis we determine the optimal size (that is, with the minimum average cost) of a water supply enterprise and reconsider the matter of scale economies, using sample data from Japanese water supply organizations. After surveying evidence from previous studies of scale economies in the water supply industry, we estimate cost functions with three different cost models: the log-linear, translog and translog with a hedonic function. We obtain the result that economies of network density do exist, but that there are slight diseconomies of scale at the sample mean point. The optimal size of a water supply organization would be one supplying a population of approximately 766,000 people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "International Fragmentation of Production: The Impact of Outsourcing on the Japanese Economy," by Nobuaki Yamashita.