This study finds a strong and positive correlation between the net job-creation rates of large employers and labor market tightness (i.e., ratio of job offers to job-seekers) in business cycle frequencies in Japan. This correlation is much stronger than that seen among smaller employers, and is...

This study examines the formation of the inflation expectations of Japanese households using a micro-level dataset of forecast errors of expected inflation rates. The Japanese have recently come to be interested in policies that intend to positively influence the inflation expectations of...

This study provides insights into the expectation-updating behavior of Japanese households with regard to future inflation. Households do not renew their information set in every period, but they do so at a greater frequency than that argued in the literature. A more volatile inflation rate...

This study examines retirement decisions in Japan, using the option value (OV) model proposed by Stock and Wise (1990) and examined by subsequent studies. This model assumes that an individual maximizes a weighted average of utility from labor income until retirement as well as that from pension...

This study examines the work capacity of older adults in Japan. First, we estimate the relationship between a variety of health indicators and work status.Work status is divided into full-time work, part-time work, and retired for those in their 50s who are not yet age-eligible for public...

Although earlier studies have demonstrated an association between perceived neighborhood characteristics and self-rated health, these studies did not control for the psychological characteristics of participants, an important consideration when using self-reported data. In this study, we...

Using panel data from two surveys in Japan and Europe, we examine the comparability of the self-rated health of the middle-aged and elderly across Japan and the European countries and the survey periods. We find that a person’s own health is evaluated on different standards (thresholds) across...

This paper explores the public pension claiming behavior of the Japanese. First, we perform financial simulations and estimate the expected utility, depicting the typical patterns of pension benefits over a life cycle. We show that the optimal retirement age depends on the beneficiaries’...

Previous studies have provided evidence of the lasting impact of low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood on adulthood health. However, the mediating pathway that links them is still under debate. In this study, we examine how educational attainment, household income, and social support...

Previous studies have shown that workplace social capital (WSC) affects workers' health, but its role as a moderator of the associations between job stressors and health outcomes has been largely understudied. The current study investigated whether and to what extent WSC moderates the...