New s Bul l e tin of the Union of Nati onal
Ec onomi c A ssoc i ati ons i n Japan
No.50
2014

Contents○

Greetings from the President○

Report on Business Activities in FY 2013 ····················································· 4○

List of Primary Proceedings of Meetings in FY 2013 ········································ 6○

Publication of English Information Bulletin No. 33

Yoshikazu SATO ··············· 8○Report on International Conference Attendance

Noriyoshi YANASE ········· 10○

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars

Kenichi ENATSU ·············· 3Japan Society of Monetary Economics ·················· 13
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers ····· 15
The Japan Society of Political Economy ················ 16Japan Society for Business Ethics Study ················ 17○

Report on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
The Japan Institute of Public Finance···················· 18○

List of Member Association Trustees ························································ 20○

List of Union Directors ········································································· 22○

List of English Information Bulletin No.33 Editorial Committee Members ············· 22

Welcoming the Resurgence of the Liberal Arts
Kenichi ENATSU, President
Currently, there is a revival of interest in the liberal arts at Japanese
universities.
The liberal arts correspond to the so-called “general studies” subjects, thefreshman and sophomore year elective courses in the humanities, sociology,
natural science, foreign languages, and the health and physical education
courses.
One of the purposes of higher education on the university level and inother schools is to acquire professional skills.

Therefore, the general studies

subjects were considered to be basic, fundamental and introductory. Yet thesecourses, with the exception of foreign language learning, tended to beunderestimated.
However, “Things that seem ephemeral remain permanent.” Society haschanged with the passing of time, and especially the industrial sector andindividual students have clearly demanded different kinds of subjects to belearned in universities. Very much to our regret, professional courses that do
not reflect on practical working performance are regarded as useless today. The
reason for this is, evidently, “applied skill orientation” first and foremost, or to
put it more simply, the goal for learning has become increasingly geared toward
being “advantageous for employment”.
Universities are also sensitively responding to such demands from society
and students preparing for college entrance examinations by reassembling and/or newly establishing academic departments, courses, and subjects, accelerating
the so-called “university turning into professional school”. Yet we often discoverthat this trend is merely disguising the original foreign language and literature
departments by presenting them in a different package.
Though this may be one reason for the revival of interest in the liberal
arts, I cannot help thinking that the focus is off the mark.
The liberal arts exist as an important subject to be learned, not directly
related to practical study but deeply rooted in a far more extensive refinement of
human nature. Based on the liberal arts, the more sophisticated professional
education ought to be administered.
As we reflect on the quintessential mission of the university, we should
3constantly remind ourselves of the raison d’être of the liberal arts as we faithfully
propagate to society their importance and timeless value.

Ultimately, by

putting emphasis on this type of liberal arts education, we can cultivate“beneficial human resources” and above all, contribute to “raising the intellectual
assets of individuals in a way that is absolutely necessary to live as a humanbeing”, though it may require a little bit more time and money.
For these reasons, I welcome the contemporary trend to reexamine thetimeless importance of the liberal arts.
I have a feeling that the revival in evaluating the importance of theliberal arts may actually be the royal road leading to professional research andeducation, when we accept the potential of their positive influence and pursue
them with diligence in their very essence.

Report on Business Activities in FY 2013

I.

Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
We received four applications this year. After the screening by the Board of
Directors, financial support was provided to the following four academic
societies. Please refer to the “Report on Assistance for the Invitation and Stayin Japan of Foreign Scholars” for the respective reports submitted by the 4societies.
1.

Japan Society of Monetary Economics: 100,000 yen for inviting Jean Tirole,
Visiting Professor at MIT, who gave a Special Invitation Lecture at the
JSME Spring Conference 2013 (commemorating the 70th anniversary of
the founding of the society, held at the Kunitachi Campus of Hitotsubashi
University)

2.

The Japanese Association of Economic Geographers: 100,000 yen for
inviting Eric S. Sheppard, Professor at UCLA and Chairman of the
Association of American Geographers, who gave a lecture at the 6othAnniversary Commemorative Conference of the JACE (held at the Komaba
Campus, The University of Tokyo).

The topic of his lecture was “theEssence of Economic Geography”.
3.

Japan Society of Political Economy: 100,000 yen for inviting Robert Eric
Rowthorn, Lifetime Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge University, who
4gave a lecture at the 61st JSPE Conference (held at Senshu University) on
the common discussion topic, “What to Make of the Geocentric Transitionof the Global Economy” and made exchanges in research on the theories
and current analyses of political economy.
4.

Japan Society for Business Ethics Study: 100,000 for inviting David J.
Vogel as the Keynote Lecturer at the 20th Anniversary Commemorative
Symposium of JSBES (held at Keio University).

Dr. Vogel met withfinancial and business leaders, gave lectures, and attended exchange
events with the members of the International House of Japan during his
stay.
II. Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
We received three applications this year.

After the screening by the

Board of Directors, financial support was provided to the following one
academic society.

Please refer to the “Report on Assistance for Academic

Conference Expenses” in this bulletin.
1. The Japanese Society of Insurance Science: 250,000 yen for dispatching
Noriyoshi YANASE, Professor, Tokyo Keizai University, to the 17th Annual
Conference of the Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association (APRIA) held on
July 28th through 31st, 2013 (hosted by APRIA).
III. Assistance for Academic Societies
The purpose of this grant is to promote “academic research”, and it
provides partial support for the conference expenses to conduct various
activities related to academic research, such as co-hosting within the societyof membership, co-sponsorship of a conference, and requesting external
professionals to give lectures. We received one application this year. Afterscreening by the Board of Directors, financial support of 50,000 yen was given
to the following one academic society.

Please refer to the “Report on theAssistance for Academic Societies”.
1. Japan Institute of Public Finance: This academic society started a special
subcommittee meeting with the financial policy scholars in Korea in theacademic year of 2004. Since then, the society has held a “Japan-Korea
Session” in its annual academic conferences, in cooperation with the Korea
Institute of Public Finance.

This will either be expanded to a

“Japan-US-Korea Session” or hold a “Japan-US Session” concurrently,
5inviting public finance scholars from USA in the 70th Conference (held at
Keio University, October 5 through 6, 2013).

Also, in the Japan-Korea

Session, the society is planning to hold a panel session concerning the “newpolitical economy” with an academic edge, developing rapidly in the past
few years. The intention is to raise the academic level and to disseminate
this field of study in Japan and Asian countries.
IV. Publication of the English Information Bulletin, No. 33
At the 2nd English Information Bulletin Editorial Committee for 2012 held
on February 4, 2013, Professor Yoshikazu SATO of Hosei University (Japan
Society of Political Economy) was selected by the members to be appointed as theCommittee Chairman. For the details on the editing progress, please refer to“On the Publication of the English Information Bulletin, No. 33” separately
indicated in this issue.
The English Information Bulletin, No. 33 was published in mid-December
2013.

Obituary
Mr. Takashi SHIRAISHI, Advisor to the Union of National Economic
Associations in Japan (Professor Emeritus, Keio University; international
economics, history of commercial industry policies), passed away on 17
October 17, 2013.

He was 91 years old.

Mr. Shiraishi held the

responsibility as the President of The Union since 1985, and he wasappointed Advisor in October 1989.

In 1987, he organized and made asignificant achievement in research at the Tokyo Round Table of theInternational Economic Association (IEA), attended by many research
specialists from various countries.

The Union is also grateful for his

generous support and guidance for the Union’s anniversary-of-founding
commemorative project.
We express our most sincere sympathy and condolences for his passing.

6

List of Primary Proceedings of Meetings in FY 20132013.4 - 2014.3
25

5. 20

First Board of・ Report on closing the books for FY 2012

Directors

・ Budget for FY 2013

Meeting・ Parliamentary Procedure for the Board ofTrusteesFirst Board of・ FY 2013 First Review Report for Assistance for

Trustees Meeting

Dispatching

toInternational

Assistance for the Invitation

Conferences,and Stay in Japanof Foreign Scholars
・Report on the Publication of the Union News
Bulletin No. 49
・Report on the Publication of English Information
Bulletin No. 32, Report on the Progress of Editing
No. 33・Matter of acceptance notice of withdrawal
・Report/Approval of Audit of FY 2012 SettlementofAccounts

・Future Operation of Special Accounting Activity
Administration Fund・Approval of FY 2012 Budget
・The role of the auditors, election law
・FY 2013 Business Plan
7. 8

Second Board of
Directors
Meeting・About the refusal of FY 2013 First Assistance for
Dispatching to International Conferences
・Examination of FY 2013 Second Assistance for
Dispatching to International Conferences,
Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japanof Foreign Scholars, and Assistance for Academic
Conference Expenses
・the 23rd period (2014.4.1 ~ 2017.3.31) Director
Election for The Union of National Economic
Associations in Japan
・Revision of Internal Regulations of the Board

7

Election
10.23

10.28

First English

・Final Inspection of Draft for No. 33

Information

・Confirmation of Editing Activity Schedule until

Bulletin Editorial

Publication of Bulletin

Committee

・Organization Heading the Writing of English

Meeting

Information Bulletin No. 34
・“CiNii (Citation Information Navigator Service)“ run by the National Institute of Informatics

Third Board of
Directors
Meeting

・Report on the Progress of Editing English
Information Bulletin No. 33
・FY 2013 Interim Accounting Report
・the 23rd period (2014.4.1 ~ 2017.3.31) Director
Election for The Union of National Economic
Associations in Japan
・Revision of the Internal Regulations for theElection of Directors and Auditors
・FY 2014 Business Plan
・Parliamentary Procedure for the Board ofTrustees
・About the Relocation of the Secretariat of The
Union of National Economic Associations inJapanSecond Board ofTrustees Meeting

・Report on the Progress of Editing English
Information Bulletin No. 33
・Report on the Examination of FY 2013 Second
Review Report for Assistance for Dispatching toInternational Conferences, Assistance for theInvitation and Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars,and Assistance for Academic Conference
Expenses
・FY 2013 Interim Accounting Report
・the 23rd period (2014.4.1 ~ 2017.3.31) Director
Election for The Union of National Economic

8

Associations in Japan
・Revision of the Internal Regulations for theElection of Directors and Auditors
・FY 2014 Business Plan・About the Relocation of the Secretariat of The
Union of National Economic Associations in
Japan
26

2.4

Second English
Information
Bulletin Editorial
Committee
Meeting・Election of Editorial Committee Chairman forEnglish Information Bulletin No. 34
・Editing Activity Schedule until Publication of
Bulletin・ Review of Writing Summary for English
Information Bulletin No. 34
・Report on Number of Copies of English
Information Bulletin to Issue, Distribution
Destinations, and Number to Distribute
・“CiNii (Citation Information Navigator
Service)“ run by the National Institute ofInformatics

3.17

Fourth Board of
Directors
Meeting

・Report on the Publication of English Information
Bulletin No. 33
・Budget for FY 2014
・Examination of FY 2013 First Review for
Assistance for Dispatching to International
Conferences, Assistance for the Invitation andStay in Japan of Foreign Scholars, and Assistancefor Academic Conference Expenses
・the 23rd period (2014.4.1 ~ 2017.3.31) Directorand Auditor Election for The Union of National
Economic Associations in Japan

9

Publication of the English Information Bulletin, No. 33

Yoshikazu SATO, Editorial Committee Chairman
The English version of Number 33 of the Information Bulletin of The
Union of National Economic Associations in Japan was published in December
2013, with the kind cooperation of the editorial committee members, writers,
and the secretariat, following the working schedule decided at the English
Information Bulletin Editorial Committee Meeting held in February 2013.
We have been publishing this journal since 1980 for the purpose of expanding
worldwide the activities of academic societies in Japan, and it is our hope andexpectation that a multitude of people will read this issue and become
interested in Japanese academic societies.
This issue was sent to the libraries and research organizations attached
to domestic and overseas universities (in 45 countries) as well as to theinstitutions (the secretariats of member societies, directors, and council
members) related to The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan.
We have previously printed 900 issues in English, but acknowledging thefacts that the bulletins have also been posted on The Union homepage andapproximately 40 research organizations abroad have been integrated oramalgamated, we finally printed 750 of No. 33.
Activities of the following 10 academic societies (by order of posting) wereposted in this issue: The Agricultural Economics Society of Japan, Japan
Business Communication Association, Japan Association for Comparative
Economic Studies, The Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought,
The Japanese Association of Management Accounting, Japan Association forManagement Systems, Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution, The
Japan Society of Political Economy, The Japan Section of the Regional Science
Association International, The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting.
The Editorial Committee Meeting (for No. 33) was held as follows:First Meeting (February 4, 2013, Waseda University)
We elected the Editorial Committee Chairman; discussed and approved theeditorial working schedule, writing outline, and other policies on the editing
process.
Second Meeting (October 10, 2013, Waseda University)
We conducted the final inspection of the articles to be posted, confirmed theworking schedule for the editing process from the release period, mailing list, up

10

to the publication. We are planning to have the following nine academic
societies to post their activities in our next issue (No. 34): Japan Society ofMonetary Economics, Japan Academy of Business Administration, The Japan
Society of Transportation Economics, Japan Statistical Society, Nippon Academyof Management, Japan Academy of International Business Studies, Japan
Academy for Asian Market Economics, Japan Association for Cultural Economics,
Japanese Research Association for Chinese Economy.
We widely seek our readers to be aware of the following, as proposed in thend
2 Editorial Committee Meeting:(1) The International Bulletin has been posted on the homepage of “The Unionof National Economic Associations in Japan” (to date, No. 25, 2005, through No.
33, 2013) and made available as one of the accessible references in the CiNii dataservice of the National Institute of Informatics. To further disseminate theEnglish version of the International Bulletin, we would like the audience toutilize the academic society activities included in the English International
Bulletin by sharing the information in their respective academic journals andannual reports.
(2) To facilitate access to the International Bulletin English version, we have
put up an announcement in English on The Union homepage, as well as an
English summary of The Union, “About us” on top page of our homepage(http://www.gakkairengo.jp).
(3) We have also put up the English version of our News Bulletin of the Union
on our homepage, starting with Vol. 49 (2013).
The Secretary General also explained his policy for the gradual transition of
the paper-based English International Bulletin to web-based, and reducing thenumber of issues printed and reconsidering the method of delivery, at the sametime cutting costs, starting with the forthcoming issue (Vol. 34).
The editorial committee members for this issue are Seiichiro ITO, Shoichi
ITO, Takeshi MORIGUCHI, Yuichiro YAMAMOTO, Keisuke SASAKI, Kazuhiro
KUMO, Hiroaki ITAKURA, Takashi OGURI, Hironao IWATA, and Yoshikazu
SATO. Seiichiro ITO, Katsumi ARAHATA, Eunji SEO, Nobuharu YOKOKAWA,
Yuichiro YAMAMOTO, Yasuo NAKATANI, Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA, Kazuhiro
KUMO, Hiroaki ITAKURA, Yoichi HARA, and Atsushi SHIIBA were kind toserve as the writers. In addition, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
Masataka OTA, Secretary General, Yoshiko ISHII, and Prof. Paul SNOWDEN(Vice-President, Kyorin University), respectively, who provided their meticulous
attention in order to promote the smooth progress of the editorial committee
operations and editorial work.
11Report on International Conference Attendance

Noriyoshi YANASEThe Japanese Society of Insurance Science(Tokyo Keizai University)
With a recommendation from The Japanese Society of Insurance Scienceand financial support from The Union of National Economic Associations inJapan, I attended and presented on my research at the 17th Asia-Pacific Risk andInsurance Association (APRIA) Conference held from July 28 through 31, 2013,
at The School of Risk Management (SRM), St. John’s University in New York
City, USA. I will mainly report on the atmosphere and ambience, not on thedetails of the individual research presentations, keynote lecture, and otherlectures, of the annual APRIA conference, in consideration of the limited space
available for this article.
APRIA is an international academic society with a target field of “risk andinsurance” founded in 1997 by a group of researchers and practitioners from awide range of backgrounds in the universities, research organizations,
government (regulatory administration), insurance companies, and other areas in
the Asia-Pacific region. Members from extensive specializations in economics,
commerce/businessmanagement,

mathematics/

statistics(insurance

mathematics), etc., conduct academic research at APRIA.
The conference held annually in the latter half of the month of July, inprinciple, is hosted, prepared and exclusively operated by any of the universities
in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the first conference hosted by Nanyang

Technological University and the Singapore College of Insurance (both inSingapore), the annual APRIA conference has been held throughout Asia in Hong
Kong, Australia, India, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan, it was held
for the first time in the United States this year. As for the members of APRIA,
more than a few have joined from not only the Asia-Pacific region but also
European countries such as Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, England,
and Russia. This shows that the researchers and practitioners in Europe andthe US have a keen interest in the diverse issues revealed as the economic
intensity of the Asia-Pacific region increases, and the local risks and risk control
require attention as the occurrence of mega-size natural disasters influence the12world economy.
In this year’s (17th) conference, 202 individuals and 136 organizations(universities/ research institutes, corporations, government organizations)gathered from around the world to hold 131 concurrent sessions reporting on therespective research. Among them, 28 Japanese participants gave 19 research
reports in the concurrent sessions.

On the second day of the conference, a

keynote lecture, panel discussion, and five lectures were held separately from theconcurrent sessions at the Bank of New York Mellon adjacent to the conference
hall. The keynote lecture titled “Policyholder Protection and Financial Stability:
Challenging Goals for Supervisors in a Difficult Environment” was made byPeter BRAUMÜLLER (Chairman, Executive Committee) of the International
Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), and the lecture was indeed timely.
Having considered the selection guidelines and regulatory application for the
global systematically important insurers, the so-called G-SIIs, under the G20 and
FSB consignment, the IAIS disclosed the initial list of G-SIIs and the relevant
policy measures on July 18, 2013, shortly before the APRIA annual conference.
In addition to the keynote lecture, lectures, and individual research reports,
a tour of the Davis Library of the SRM, starting from 5 p.m. on July 30, attracted
many participants. The Davis Library is one of the largest libraries in the world
specializing in insurance, and it has an extensive collection including some rarevolumes from the 16th century. The SRM was first established in 1901 as the
Insurance Society of New York, and the unofficial system of insurance education
since 1917 developed into the School of Insurance in 1946. Thereafter, it became
an official institution of higher education, the College of Insurance, which
eventually became what we know as The School of Risk Management. In otherwords, the Davis Library functions as the core archive of the multitude of
documents, learning systems, and other references exclusive to the field of
insurance at the SRM. Not only do they have books but also important relics
concerning the history of insurance, for example, fire-marks (the plates attachedto the insured clients’ homes to display their contract certification for fire
insurance) from the 17th and 18th centuries, and insurance researchers often visit
from around the world to study these valuable documents and items of reference.
Further, following the library tour, we attended a Curriculum Development
Discussion in the same library. In the session, an internationally diverse groupof university representatives from USA, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, India,
and China discussed the respective national status quo of “risk and insurance”
education on the university and graduate-school level. Each of us reported on13our research and exchanged opinions, as we analyzed the many layers of theissue from an international, academic perspective, on the role of higher education
as an infrastructure producing achievement in the research.

I believe theseexchanges are the best part of the APRIA experience.
The respective researchers gave their reports on their individual research inthe concurrent sessions. We found the conference program to be very academic
in the way it was organized in an interdisciplinary format, including not only therelevant fields of study (pension, natural disaster, insurance regulation, etc.) but
also research disciplines (economics, statistics, finance theory, etc.) withconsideration to each of the special features. I reported on my research under
the title, “Organization Structure and Insurance Risk Taking: Evidence from theLife Insurance Industry in Japan” in the 1-F (Life Insurance) session starting on
July 30 at 8:30 a.m. I also made a joint presentation on the same day, startingat 1:15 p.m., and we reported on our research under the title, “The Information
Content of Corporate Pension Funding Status in Japan” in the 3-A (Pension)
session.
In the annual APRIA conference this year, I also attended the Executive
Committee meeting on the first day and joined in the discussion, in addition to
the above-mentioned two (including a joint report) individual researchpresentations. I was elected to join the Executive Committee for the three-year
term following the conference in 2013, and the three Japanese members on thecommittee, namely Norio HIBIKI (Keio University), Yoshihiko SUZAWA (Kyoto
Sangyo University) and myself, are one of the most powerful members on the
APRIA Executive Committee. With the growing demand for the transmission of
information from Japan, as it is the case in other fields of the social sciences, weare hoping to make a constant and stable contribution in fulfilling our
responsibilities as members of the committee.
In conclusion, I will make a few comments on the global perspective of
APRIA. The 18th APRIA Conference is scheduled to be held on July 27 through30, 2014, at this year’s hosting institution, Moscow State University, in Russia.
The 19th Conference is planned to take place at the Munich Risk and InsuranceCenter in Germany, on August 2 through 6, 2015. Why are these conferences tobe held in Europe, when it is supposed to be an international conference for the
Asia-Pacific region? The major international conferences focusing on “risk andinsurance” other than APRIA are the American Risk and Insurance Association(ARIA) and European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists (EGRIE). And
the rule is for these three organizations to hold in collaboration a world14

conference once every five years. The Munich conference planned for 2015 will
be one of these occasions.

In this way, the Asia-Pacific based APRIA is anacademic society with remarkable internationality in the sense that it keeps asystematic and close partnership with the group of researchers in the US andEurope.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to The Union of National
Economic Associations in Japan for granting us this very precious experience by
supporting us with financial assistance to attend an international conference.

15

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars

Commemorative Lecture, 2013 Spring Conference of theJapan Society of Monetary Economics(May 25, 2013, Kunitachi Campus, Hitotsubashi University)

Yukinobu KITAMURA
Japan Society of Monetary Economics(Hitotsubashi University)
The Japan Society of Monetary Economics invited Jean TIROLE,
Professor, Industrial Economic Institute and Toulouse School of Economics,
University of Toulouse 1, to give a commemorative lecture at the 2013 Spring
Conference of the society commemorating the 70th anniversary of its founding.
59-year-old Professor Tirole was born in France on August 9, 1953. He hasa bachelor’s degree from the “École polytechnique” in 1976, and a double
doctorate (Docteur de 3eme Cycle) in engineering from the “École nationale desponts et chaussées” and in applied mathematics from the University of Paris IX
in 1978. After completing a doctorate in economics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1981, he served as Associate Professor and Professor at
the MIT since 1984.
He is currently the Scientific Director of the Industrial Economic Institute(Institut d’Economie Industrielle (IDEI)), and serves concurrently as the
Chairman of the Board of the Jean-Jacques Laffont Foundation at the Toulouse
School of Economics. Professor Laffont, the founder of IDEI, passed away at theage of 57 on May 1, 2004, and the foundation was established by the Frenchgovernment on February 1, 2007 in his memory. Since 2011, Jean Tirole has
also served as member of the French Academy of Sciences (Académie desSciences Morales et Politiques).
Professor Tirole has won numerous domestic and international awards.
Most conspicuously, he was awarded the Order of Chevalier in the Legion of
Honor (In French, L’ordre national de la légion d’honneur) in 2007. He was also
awarded the CNRS Gold Medal, annually awarded to one outstanding scholar ofacademic research by The National Center for Scientific Research (In French, Le
Centre national de la recherche scientifique), the largest government-based
research institute in France. Jean Tirole was the second economic scholar to
win the award in 2007, since Maurice Allais. He has also won the Frenchnational Order of Merit in 2010. (In French, Officier dans l’Ordre National duMérite). His academic society responsibilities include the Chairman of the16Econometric Society in 1998 and Chairman of the European Economic
Association in 2001.
Dr. Tirole has written over 170 professional research papers, and he is oneof the most productive economists who write high-quality research papers. His
many publications include, to mention his major works, The Theory of Industrial
Organization (The MIT Press, 1988), Game Theory (with D. Fudenberg, The MIT
Press, 1991), A Theory of Incentives in Regulation and Procurement (with J.-J.
Laffont, The MIT Press, 1993), The Prudential Regulation of Banks (withMathias Dewatripont, The MIT Press, 1994) (Japanese translation by Yukinobu
Kitamura and Tsutomu Watanabe: New Trend of Banking Regulation, Toyo
Keizai Inc., 1996), Competition in Telecommunications (with J.-J. Laffont, The
MIT Press, 1999), Financial Crisis, Liquidity and the International Monetary
System (Princeton University Press, 2002) (Japanese translation by Yukinobu
Kitamura and Kazuyo Tanimoto: Economics of International Financial Crisis,
Toyo Keizai Inc., 2007), The Theory of Corporate Finance (Princeton University
Press, 2006), Balancing the Banks (with Mathias Dewatripont and Jean-Charles
Rochet, Princeton University Press, 2010), Inside and Outside Liquidity (withBengt Holmström, The MIT Press, 2011).
Professor Tirole has conducted research over a wide range of subjects, andhe has done theoretical studies on the industrial organization theory, gametheory, and corporate finance theory, in addition to examining the policy issues inindividual industries such as the financing business, credit card industry,
telecommunication business, and food business. Further, he has recently
published his research results in the relationship between psychology andincentives, psychology and decision making, under the influence of behavioral
economics.
Professor Tirole is undoubtedly one of the most productive and mostinnovative economics researchers in the world.
His lecture title was “What Future for The Eurozone Governance?”, and thelecture consisted of a both holistic and theoretical examination of the Euro crisis
currently attracting international attention. The members of the Japan Societyof Monetary Economics were deeply moved by the lecture. The practical content
of his lecture first presented an overview of the Euro crisis; then we considered
the possibility of regulatory reform in the areas using the Euro currency. He
discussed to what extent the financial asset transfer in the Euro currency areas
should be permitted, or how such a structural system should exist. He also
pointed out the potentials and problems of the reform on banking regulations.
Presuming that the Euro crisis will continue into the future, he suggested as aresult of his research that each of the nations in the Euro currency areas need tocalmly perceive the current condition in their respective countries, make patientand constant efforts to proceed with regulatory reform, and overcome the various
restrictions facing each country.
17

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
60th Anniversary Conference of The Japan Association of Economic Geographers

Hironobu ODA
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers(Seikei University)
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers, established on April 29,
1954, marks its 60th anniversary in 2014. Our 60th national conference was heldin the previous year, and the 60th Anniversary Conference was held on June 1
through June 3, 2013, on the Komaba Campus of The University of Tokyo. A
round table titled “Exploring the Source of Economic Geography” and acommemorative lecture, “The Essence of Economic Geography” was held on June
1, as an introduction to the shared-topic symposium “On the Essence of Economic
Geography” held on June 2.
One of the speakers at the commemorative lecture was Kenji YAMAMOTO(Kyushu University), Chairman of our society, and the other was Eric
SHEPPARD (Professor, University of California at Los Angeles, and former
President of the Association of American Geographers), who we invited with thesupport of The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan. Professor
Sheppard is a global pioneer as a scholar in geography, and his approach is thatof political economy utilizing a mathematical model.

His most famous

publications are The Capitalist Space Economy: Geographical Analysis after

Ricardo Marx and Sraffa (1990), A World of Difference: Society, Nature,
Development (1998) ， A World of Difference: Encountering and Contesting
Development (2009), all of which are co-authored. He has also edited a large
number of works that focus on the spatial inequality occurring amidst a
new-liberalist style of economic administration.
We had the honor of having Professor Sheppard give us a lecture titled“Thinking Geography about Capitalism” and submit the content of his lecture in
an article titled “Rethinking Capitalism from a Geographical Perspective” to be
included in Number 4, Volume 59 of our journal, Annual Bulletin of Economic

Geography.

In

the

Anglophone

world,

economic

geography

today

is

characterized by the two competitive paradigms, namely the school of18

geographical economy and the school of geographic political economy. Professor
Sheppard made a rhetorically dynamic presentation on the inevitably limited
ability of the increasingly globalizing capitalism to conquer social/ geographicalinequality.
He also participated and made comments in the shared-topic symposium on
the following day, June 2, and expressed a strong interest in the industrial city
planning and inner-city problems in the Taito and Sumida wards of Tokyo during
the excursion on June 3. Professor Sheppard returned to America after visiting
the areas afflicted by the Great East Japan Earthquake with the guiding
members of our society.
We are grateful for the support from The Union of National Economic
Associations in Japan in granting us their Assistance for the Invitation and Stayin Japan of Foreign Scholars. Our 60th Conference proceeded with much
excitement among the participants and ended with great success.
The
conference was a very important opportunity for The Japan Association of
Economic Geographers to reexamine the essence of our field of discipline.

19

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitationand Stay in Japan of Foreign Scholars
61st Conference of The Japan Society of Political Economy

Nobuharu YOKOKAWA
International Exchange Committee Chairman
The Japan Society of Political Economy(Musashi University)
The 61st Conference of The Japan Society of Political Economy, with ashared discussion topic on the “Cataclysm of Global Economy”, was held on
October 5 through 6, 2013, on the Ikuta Campus of Senshu University. We
invited Professor Robert ROWTHORN of the University of Cambridge for theSpecial Lecture on October 5, starting at 4 p.m. Three sessions in English werealso held for the occasion, titled “The Industrialization in China and India andthe Future of Capitalism”, “A Global Depression in Capitalist Economics”, and“Labor and Capital”, respectively, and 12 research papers were presented by theparticipants from 11 countries.
The topic of the lecture was “The Rising of China and India as International
Powers”. First, the economic and political problems inhibiting the rapid
economic growth of China and India were simply summarized; then, theirinfluences on other geographical areas were examined in terms of international
trade and investment, imperialism, and military balance. Professor Rowthorn
concluded as follows: China still remains a “partial power” in spite of its highGDP and newly-acquired status as the world’s major-scale exporting nation in
finance and services. There are hardly any global corporations in China, andthe Chinese companies are small-scale in comparison to the mega-sizedcorporations in the advanced nations. In military power, China is a local
superpower in its surrounding marine areas but it cannot beat America in global
standards. If China decided to evolve according to our expectation, the Chinese
corporations will continue to expand overseas, and the Chinese military power
will eventually be able to function practically on a global scale. That is the point
when China will become a truly global superpower. The same could be said
about India, though our prediction for its potential growth may be even more
uncertain. Even if India resumes its predicted growth orbit, it would take much20

longer than China for India to become a global superpower as predicted. This
extremely clear report on the cataclysm in the global economy was followed byquestions from many of the conference participants, and there was an active
discussion on the topic.
The Japan Society of Political Economy is emphatically moving forwardwith internationalization. Every year, we have achieved a steady increase in
the number of presenters from overseas in the English sessions, and we havealready invited more than 11 internationally renowned scholars for the annual
Special Lecture. In December 2012, our first collection of research papers in
English, Crises of Global Economies and the Future of Capitalism: Reviving

Marxian Crisis Theory, was published by Routledge, and a second compilation iscurrently in preparation. An international academic award, the JSPE Book
Prize, is in the process of being established in collaboration with international
publishers.
For these activities, the Assistance for the Invitation and Stay in Japan of
Foreign Scholars granted by The Union of National Economic Associations inJapan is very important, and we are deeply thankful that we were blessed with
their support.

21

Reports on the Use of Assistance for the Invitation andStay in Japan of Foreign Scholars―Report on the Lecture by Professor David VOGEL―

Mitsuhiro UMEZU
Japan Society for Business Ethics Study(Keio University)
The Japan Society for Business Ethics held a special lecture by Professor
David VOGEL of Haas Business School, University of California at Berkeley, as acommemorative event for the 20th anniversary of its founding.
Professor Vogel is famous in Japan as the author of The Market for Virtue.
During his visit to Japan this time, he attended the Commemorative Lecture forthe 20th Anniversary of the Japan Society for Business Ethics Study that started
at 13:00 on Saturday, November 16, 2013, held in the South School Building on
the Mita Campus of Keio University, joined the lecture hosted by the researchlaboratory of Christina AHMADJIAN of the Faculty of Commerce andManagement, Hitotsubashi University on Monday, November 18, gave a series ofthree lectures in the special lecture on the topic of CSR sponsored by theInternational House of Japan in Roppongi on Tuesday, November 19, andreturned to America on Wednesday, November 20.
In the JABES 20th Anniversary Lecture, our Chairman Hiroo TAKAHASHI
delivered the opening address, after which Mitsuhiro UMEZU, Associate
Professor, Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, gave a lecture on“The Past and Future of Business Ethics in Japan”. This was followed by alecture by Iwao TAKA, Professor, Reitaku University, on “The Business Ethics ofJapanese Corporations”, then Professor Vogel gave the main lecture andconducted a Q & A session on the lecture.
Professor Vogel lectured on the topic of “Global Corporate Responsibility
and Business Ethics” and analyzed the development of business ethics and CSR
in the US and the world in the last few decades from the perspective of thecritical examination of society toward corporations, pointing out that thismovement has reached a certain conspicuous level in Europe and the US as wellas in Japan. He also explained, in relation to environmental issues we have todeal with today and in the near future, the importance of government and22corporate partnerships in the respective countries, the advancement of industrial
guidelines provided by business organizations and NGOs worldwide, the Global
Compact of the United Nations, and the situation of SRI (socially responsible
investment).
Professor Vogel went on to mention the strengths and weaknesses of CSR
by corporations in Japan, pointing out that while he acknowledged the CSR
practices and international contribution by the Japanese corporations theirefforts are hardly recognized globally, and that the democratic pressure for
improvement is insufficient due to the lack of energy in the civic-organization
and NGO activities.
Approximately 120 scholars, students, corporate representatives, and others
gathered for this commemorative lecture at Keio University, followed by anactive Q & A session lasting nearly one hour, and in the reception thereafter, 50
participants made rewarding exchanges with Professor Vogel. With this reporton the successful completion of the occasion, we would like to express our sincere
gratitude for The Union in granting us a generous support for the occasion.

23

Report on the Use of Assistance for Academic Conference Expenses
Report on the 70th Anniversary Conference of
The Japan Institute of Public Finance

Masumi KAWADE
The Japan Institute of Public Finance(Nihon University)
The 70th Anniversary Conference of The Japan Institute of Public Finance
was held on Saturday, October 5 through Sunday, October 6, 2013, at Keio
University.
In the conference, more than 300 scholars of public finance from around
Japan participated on the respective days in a total of 30 concurrent study
sessions, presenting substantial reports on their research and engaging in heateddiscussion on the theory and practice of academic public finance and themiscellaneous public finance issues.
On October 5, we also held a Conference Symposium on the topic of “ThePost-‘Social Security-Tax Integration Reform’ Japanese Public Finance”, an
impending and urgent policy issue in Japan. In response to the public release of
the report at the People’s Meeting on the Reform of the Social Security System inAugust 2015, the speakers discuss the issues facing Japanese public financefollowing the integration and reform of the social security and tax systems.
Toru NAKAZATO of Sophia University joined us as the coordinator for the
symposium, and the four panelist speakers were Hiroko OTA of the National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Fumio OHTAKE of Osaka University,
Masaru KANEKO of Keio University, and Shigeki KUNIEDA of Hitotsubashi
University.
The discussion at the symposium consisted of four topics, namely 1) theevaluation of the current reform toward a “healthier” public finance, 2) the
proper conditions for tax and social security responsibilities, 3) the generation
gap divergence in pension amounts, and 4) the proper conditions for medical
treatment and nursing care in the aging society. Very insightful and rewarding
exchanges of opinions were made among the panelists, as well as between thepanelists and the audience, especially on the possibility of a (national) financial
collapse and how to maintain the financial resources in order to achieve a proper24balance in the divergence between generations, at the same time avoiding afinancial collapse.
To complement the Conference Symposium, a Special Lecture was held on
the following day, October 6. Tatsuo HATTA of Osaka University spoke on“Directly Reforming the Tax System without Raising the Consumer Tax
Percentage” concerning the possibilities of securing the financial resources fortaxes by a direct reform of the tax system without relying on a consumer tax hike,in view of the official release of raising the consumer tax percentage by 3% in
April 2014, and by another 2% in October 2015, as planned in the process of theJapanese government’s drastic reform of the tax system corresponding to thesocial security and tax reform.
In the lecture, the following tax-resource related proposals were made as analternative to sales tax: 1) enhancing the degree of income tax is possible inJapan due to the relatively low tax rate on wages compared to other countries,
and less wage elasticity in the supply of labor for high-income earners; 2)
introducing the death tax on capital gain is effective for the household budget
because of the insufficient capital gain taxation as currently practiced in asset
income taxation; 3) concerning the bequest where strategic inheritancemotivation is powerfully suggested, the enhancement of inheritance tax not only
secures the tax resources but also activates the caretaking markets.
Other than the above activities, we initiated a Japan-Canada Session with
Canadian research scholars in addition to the Japan-Korea Session regularly
held at our annual conferences. We were happy to have four Korean and three
Canadian public finance research scholars attend these sessions. Professional
researchers from Canada joining us for the first time and meeting with theresearchers from Japan and Korea enabled us to consider the internal problems
in public finance for the respective countries from an international andoverlapping perspective, and this was also a very good opportunity for academic
exchange thereafter.
We are grateful for the cooperation of each participant to follow throughwith these programs and to help us successfully complete the conference. We
would also like to express our deep thanks to The Union of National Economic
Associations in Japan for providing us with a generous assistance that supported
us greatly in managing this conference during the time when our financial
situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

25

Member Association Trustees
2014.3.31
Japan Society of Monetary Economics

Yoshio WATANABE

Fumihiko HIRUMAThe Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought

Seiichiro ITO

The Japan Society of Public Utility Economics

Hirotaka YAMAUCHI

Socio-Economic History Society

Haruhito TAKEDA Hiroshi KAWAGUCHIThe Political Economy and Economic History Society

Tetsuji OKAZAKI Yasuo KAWAIThe Japan Accounting Association

Michimasa HAMAMOTO

Nobuhiko SATO

Japan Academy of Business Administration

Hiroshi OTSUKI

Kenichi KURODA

Japan Economic Policy Association

Yasuhide TANAKAThe Japan Society of Transportation Economics

Kazusei KATO

Mami AOKIThe Japan Institute of Public Finance

Motohiro SATO

Takero DOI

The Japan Statistical Society

Hiroshi SAIGO

Hiroshi KOJIMAThe Agricultural Economics Society of Japan

Katsumi ARAHATA Takuya HASHIGUCHIThe Japan Society of International Economics

Keiichi UMADA

Japan Society for Commodity Science

Yasuhiro YAMAMOTOThe Society for the Study of Social Policy

Kazuro SAGUCHI

Kingo TAMAIThe Japanese Society of Insurance Science

Yasuo KOFUJI

Hiroshi SUZAKI

Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution

Tetsu KOBAYASHI Takeshi MORIGUCHIThe Japan Association of Economic Geographers

Shuichi NAKAGAWA

Japan Association for Asian Studies

Tetsuya KOMAGATA Tomoo MARUKAWA

Japan Society of Political Economy

Mitsuhiko TSURUTA

Japan Business Communication Association

Yasuo NAKATANI Yuichiro YAMAMOTO

Japan Society of Business Mathematics

Nobuhide TANAKA

Business History Society of Japan

Shin GOTO

Japan Academy for International Trade and Business

Tatsuo NOBU

Yuji SAITO
Takeshi KATOHNO

Mazuru NAKAMURA

Shujiro URATA
Yoko KENMOKU

Katsuki UMEDA

Yoshikazu SATO

Isao USUI
Tetsuya KUWAHARA
Toru YAMAJOThe Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International
Hidehiko KANEGAE Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA
The Society for the Economic Studies of Securities

Hiroshi FUKUMITSU

The Population Association of Japan

Hisakazu KATO

Yoshio YOSHIDAThe Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies

Shozaburo SAKAIManabu SUHARAThe Academic Association for Organizational Science

Kenji YAMAKURA

Junjiro SHINTAKUJapan Society of Human Resource Management

Kazuo KIKUNO

Yoshio SASAJIMAThe Society of Economic Sociology

Shin WATANABE

Takao MAMADA

Japan Finance Association

Kotaro INOUE

Japan Association for Planning Administration

Yasuo MATSUYUKI

26

Hajime TAKAHASHI

Toshio SERITA
Sukehiro HOSONO

Japan Auditing Association

Yoshimasa TOMOSUGI Toshifumi TAKADA

Japan Academy for Consumption Economy

Haruo ISHIBASHI

Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies
Japan Society for Applied Management

Kisaburo SEKIYA

Yoshihiro TOKUGA

Yuji OSHITA

Fumihiko HIRANO

Yoshiyuki KANEKO

Nippon Urban Management and Local Government Research Association
Makoto ONOJIMA

Tatsuo ITOJapan Port Economics Association

Hideki YOSHIOKA

Hisashi FURUI

Nippon Academy of Management

Yasuhiro OGURA

Japan Academy of Management Philosophy

Kenshu KIKUZAWA

Japan Risk Management Society

Kazuo UEDA

Japan Logistics Society

Mitsumasa NAKA

Shigeo KATO
Koji OHIRA
Katsuyuki KAMEI
Hirohito KUSE

Japan Association for the Comparative Studies of Management Toru SAKURAI

Yongge LIU

Japan Academy of Management

Isuke KOTO

Saburo OTA

The Society for Industrial Studies, Japan

Katsuaki ONISHI

Japan Association for Management Systems

Akira OTABE

Hiroshi ITAGAKI
Hiroaki ISHIICIRIEC Japanese Section (Japan Society of Research and Information on Public and Cooperative
Economy)Teizo ANAYAMA

Kazuyoshi UENO

The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting

Takashi OGURI

Shigekatsu KUMAGAIJapan Society of Logistics and Shipping Economics

Nobuaki ENDO

Katsuhiko HAYASHIThe Japanese Association of Management Accounting

Kazunori ITO

Tomoaki SONODA

The Society for the History of Management Theories

Yoshiaki TAKAHASHI

Nobutaka KAZAMAJapan Scholarly Association for Asian Management

Tasuku NOGUCHI

Takahide KOSAKA

Japan Academy of International Business Studies

Kenichi ENATSU

Yoshiharu KUWANA

Japan Society for Business Ethics Study

Kuniaki MATSUMOTO

Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics

Akiyoshi ARAKAWA

Japan Academy of Labor and Management

Toshikazu NAGAYAMA

Kimito NASUNOThe Japanese Association of Administrative Science

Yasuaki KIDO

Yasuo HOSHINO

Business Analysis Association

Tsutomu OKATO

Yasuyoshi KUROKAWA

Japan Academy for Asian Market Economics

Hiroichi IINUMA

Itsuro KANEKOThe Japan Society of Household Economics

Joji ASAHI

Kyoko UEMURA

Japan Association for Cultural Economics

Kazuko GOTO

Tadashi YAGIJapanese Research Association for Chinese Economy

Naoki MURAKAMI

Midori KIZAKI

27

Akira SAITO
Hiroyasu UEMURA

Directors of the Union
President

Kenichi ENATSU (Japan Academy of International Business Studies)
Fumihiko HIRUMA (Japan Society of Monetary Economics)
Tetsuji OKAZAKI (The Political Economy and Economic History Society)
Hiroshi OTSUKI (Japan Academy of Business Administration)
Shujiro URATA (The Japan Society of International Economics)
Mitsuhiko TSURUTA (Japan Society of Political Economy)
Yasuhiro OGURA (Nippon Academy of Management)
Katsuaki ONISHI (The Society for Industrial Studies)
Yoshiaki TAKAHASHI (The Society for the History of Management Theories)
Yoshiharu KUWANA (Japan Academy of International Business Studies)

Secretary General
Masataka OTA
AuditorYoshihiro TOKUGA (Japanese Association for International Accounting Studies)
Yoshimasa TOMOSUGI (Japan Auditing Association)

Emeritus

Osamu NISHIZAWA
Yasuo OKAMOTO

Information Bulletin No.33 Editorial Committee Members
Chairman Yoshikazu SATO (Japan Society of Political Economy)
Seiichiro ITO (The Society for the History of Economic Thought)
Shoichi ITO (The Agricultural Economics Society of Japan)
Takeshi MORIGUCHI (Japan Society of Marketing and Distribution)
Yuichiro YAMAMOTO (Japan Business Communication Association)
Keisuke SASAKI (The Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International)
Kazuhiro KUMO (The Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies)
Hiroaki ITAKURA (Japan Association for Management Systems)
Takashi OGURI (The Japan Society for Social Science of Accounting)
Hironao IWATA (The Japanese Association of Management Accounting)28

Correspondence to be addressed:
Secretariat of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan,
c/o School of Commerce,
Waseda University,
Nishiwaseda 1-6-1, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 169-8050, Japane-mail: rengo@kurenai.waseda.jp
http://www.gakkairengo.jp

29