Microdata will be reinforced and improvements will be made on model operation in the fields of trade, pensions, energy, and the environment. This will strengthen the necessary infrastructure for RIETI's research.
1. Building of GCE Model for East Asia that Introduces Economies of Scale
Project Leader
Sub-Leader
HISATAKE Masato, Consulting Fellow
Overview
The rapid pace of economic development and integration in East Asia has had a major impact on the entire Japanese economy as well as its local economies. The purpose of this project is to develop an applied general equilibrium model for both the national and local levels, and to quantitatively evaluate how economic development is affecting local economies in Japan and other countries. In the model to be developed, we will put emphasis on analyzing the changes in industrial structure that occur in the context of economic integration, while taking into account the economies of scale and imperfect competition. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of the increase in regional disparities resulting from decentralization policies being pursued in various countries. This project ultimately aims to provide a highly transparent framework for facilitating consensus building on the national and local levels. For this purpose, the project will examine how policy responses in individual countries affect the economic structure of the East Asian region in the context of a dual structure of national and local economies. This examination will use welfare criteria based on the perspective of local economies.
Major Research Results
RIETI Discussion Papers
- "Regional Disparities in the Effects of Trade Liberalization: Computable general equilibrium analysis based on an inter-regional input-output table" (TAKEDA Shiro and BAN Kanemi)
- "Productivity Shocks and National Food Security for Japan" (TANAKA Tetsuji and HOSOE Nobuhiro)
2. Development of Support Systems for Economic and Industrial Policy Analysis and Evaluation
Project Leader
Overview
Due to the termination of the economic information system of RIETI, we try to establish a brand-new system to support quantitative policy analysis, evaluation, planning and design. Taking into account the demand in economic and industrial policy makers, we set the goal of this project to develop a systematically organized and integrated database that incorporates useful statistical data and processed data, as well as knowledge learned from research activities. And we aim to develop user support systems enabling policy makers without expert knowledge and researchers without prior knowledge of policies an effective use of the database.
Major Research Results
RIETI Discussion Papers
- "Economic Study Regarding the System of Cost Measures for the Transmission and Storage of Renewable Electricity" (KAINOU Kazunari)
- "Dynamic Analysis of Price Pass - Through Accompanying Events Such as Steep Rises in Crude Oil Prices" (KAINOU Kazunari)
RIETI Policy Discussion Papers
- "A Survey of Research on Productivity Analysis Using Microdata - Impact of Entry, Exit, Economic Globalization, Innovation and Systemic Reform" (MATSUURA Toshiyuki, HAYAKAWA Kazunobu and KATO Masatoshi)
3. RIETI Data Management Project
Project Leader
Overview
The data in RIETI's possession can be categorized as follows: data available at relatively low cost, which research institutions would ordinarily be expected to have on hand; large-scale data sets purchased by individual research projects for use in their research; and data generated by these research projects (including the results of questionnaire surveys). The purpose of this project is to develop infrastructure for facilitating the more efficient utilization of these datasets by users. An additional purpose of this project is to serve as a forum for active discussion of related topics within RIETI, with an eye to considering the possibility as well as methods to make these datasets available to both researchers and the public at large as a source of new knowledge. Having accumulated considerable expertise in handling microdata being in the possession of METI, we will also try to create convertors for statistics data matching that enable researchers to quickly access and analyze microdata.
