The lay judge system, a quasi-jury system, was introduced in Japan from May 2009. This paper attempts to analyze Japanese people’s attitude towards this system by examining whether they show a willingness to serve as a lay judge. The major findings from regression analysis are: (1) In general,...

This paper uses individual level data (the Japanese General Social Survey, 2001) to examine how government size influences generalized trust. After controlling for income inequality, population mobility, city size and various individual characteristics, I found: (1) Using all samples, government...

We use OECD members' data to ascertain that new-born technological inventions increase the degree of inequality but that this declines as the technology disperses into the overall economy (e.g., Galor and Tsiddon, 1997; Weil, 2005). Therefore, we show explicitly that Kuznets curve does not converge...

This paper attempts to examine how social trust influences human capital formation using prefectural level data in Japan. To this end, I constructed a proxy for social trust, based on the Japanese General Social Surveys. After controlling for socioeconomic factors, I found that social trust...

Empirical results through a fixed effects regression model show that technological catch-up is three times as effective as capital deepening but both have done much to cause economic convergence among Japanese prefectures (regions). Results are contrary to existing research on East Asian growth...

It is widely and increasingly acknowledged that social capital plays a crucial role in the economic performance, which covers various facets of　human behavior. A growing body of literature has sought to investigate the role of social capital mainly in heterogeneous societies such as USA,...

This paper explores how an early leader's choices influence later followers' choices via social interaction, and to what extent this sequential behavior enhances industrial development by using the long-term data of Japanese professional baseball. Major findings make it evident that the "Leader"...

Using prefecture level data of Japan for the years 1979 and 1996, I explore the extent to which inequality, age heterogeneity, and social capital have an effect upon interpersonal trust. The major finding is that inequality is associated with low trust, while generational heterogeneity is...

This paper uses data from Japan to ascertain the determinants of government information disclosures by considering the role of special interest groups and government size. A IV-Tobit model is employed to control for endogeneity bias of government size. The major findings are as follows: (1)...

This paper explores how individual preferences for income redistribution are influenced by social capital, which is measured by rates of participation in community activities. Individual-level data and place of residence data were combined to examine how social capital accumulated in residential...