The Great Recession pushed Japan's unemployment rate to historic highs, but the increase has been small by international standards and small relative to the large output shock. This paper explores Japan's cyclical labor market response to the global financial crisis. Our findings suggest that:...

South-South trade agreements are proliferating: Developing countries signed 70 new agreements between 1990 and 2003. Yet the impact of these agreements is largely unknown, as existing North-North and North-South micro-level studies are likely to yield misleading predictions for South-South trade...

Japan's potential growth rate is steadily falling with the aging of its population. This paper explores the extent to which raising female labor participation can help slow this trend. Using a cross-country database we find that smaller families, higher female education, and lower marriage rates...