Global COE Hi-Stat Newsletter

No. 7 (January 2012)

Contents
Professor Christopher Sims Wins Nobel Prize for Economics

Toshiaki Watanabe… 1

Report on the Hitotsubashi-UNSW Conference on International Trade and FDIAkira Sasahara… 3
Zambia Field Survey Report

Ken Miura…5

Discussion Papers ...7
Seminars and Conferences ...7Awards …10

Professor Christopher Sims Wins Nobel Prize for Economics
Toshiaki WatanabeGroup Leader, Statistical Theory
Professor, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University
The 2011 Nobel Prize for economics has been jointly

as professor at Princeton University. He apparently

awarded to Professor Christopher Sims and Professor

graduated second in his class from the Harvard

ThomasonMathematics Department. I was fortunate enough toIbe taught by him as a graduate student at Yale, justtoafter he had moved there from Minnesota.

Sargent

formacroeconomics

and

immediately sent

Professor

theirresearch

econometrics.
Sims

Althoughanemail

congratulate him, as he used to be my supervisor at

Chris

is

well

known

for

his

work

as

an

Yale University, I would like to offer my sincerest

econometrician, which is primarily Bayesian in nature.

congratulations once again. It may seem somewhatIndisrespectful to address a Nobel laureate by his firstregarded as random variables, and the first step is toname, but it feels odd to address Professor Sims as

set the prior distribution, that is, the distribution ofsuch because I have always known him as Chris, soparameters before data are observed. This is thenthat is what I will call him for the rest of this article.

updatedBayesiantoestimation,

theposteriormodelparameters

distribution,

which

are

is

After gaining a PhD in Economics at Harvard, Chris

calculated based on Bayes’ theorem after data havewent on to teach at the University of Minnesota andbeen observed, in order to infer parameters. I once

Yale University, before arriving at his current position

asked Chris why he favored the Bayesian approach.

1

He replied by pointing to the Lucas critique, which

faster however (the time taken to estimate SV models

argues that when government and central bankhas gone from nearly a week to around 15 minutes), I

policies change, so do the model parameters, so thatstill use MCMC methods to this day. I don’t know what

they should be regarded not as constants but assort of research I would be working on if I hadn’t met

stochastic variables. Whereas Bayesian estimation

Chris. He helped to make me the researcher I am

was not commonly used in the past because it wastoday.

difficult to derive the posterior distribution, it has

Chris taught a class in macroeconomics that wasstarted to become more widespread since thecompulsory for first year graduate students at Yale anddevelopment of a simulation technique called theallowed me to work as his teaching assistant (TA). His

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, as

lectures were hard to follow, to be honest, to the extent

explained below.

that he focused on transversality conditions for an

When

Chris

becamemysupervisor,I

wasentire term at one point. However, the TA sessions

conducting research on financial stochastic volatility

were fairly straightforward, as all I had to do was(SV) models rather than macroeconomic models. As it

explain the contents of Chris’ lectures in simpler terms.

is difficult to analytically calculate likelihoods using

Although Chris’ work has touched on a wide range ofsuch models however, I spoke to Chris and he advised

areas, his most important research to date has

me to use the MCMC approach instead. That was what

probably been on vector autoregressive (VAR) models.

started me using MCMC. Used as a general term for

Using such models, it is possible to run simulations tomethods whereby values are sampled and then usedillustrate policy effects. For instance, when the central

to sample the next set of values, MCMC methodsbank lowers interest rates, you can simulate the effects

make it possible to sample parameters from thethat will have on macroeconomic variables over time.

posterior distribution even when using more complex

VAR models are therefore important to policymakers

models, thereby making it possible to use Bayesianas well as researchers. In order to estimate VAR

estimation. MCMC methods had previously been usedmodels however, identifying restrictions are needed. In

in physics, but they had only just started to be applied

fact, Chris has written numerous papers on what sortin econometrics at that time, so there was very littleof identifying restrictions to impose. He is also using

literature available. I learnt almost everything directly

VAR models in order to carry out important researchfrom Chris.

on causality between variables.

To estimate parameters using MCMC methods, we

One of Chris’ most important papers on VAR models,

have to generate a lot of random numbers, so it takes

titled “Macroeconomics and Reality,” was published ina considerable amount of time. It might seem alien to

the journal Econometrica in 1980. To commemorate

young people nowadays, but back then computerthe 30 anniversary of the publication of that paper, weCPUs were still at the Intel i386 stage, meaning thatorganized the “Journal of Economic Dynamics andthey struggled to perform calculations with any speed.

Control

Fortunately, Chris allowed me to use the lab next to his

Macroeconomic

own, which was equipped with an i486 33MHz‘Macroeconomics and Reality’ and Five Years after

computer, the fastest available back then. Even so,‘Nominal Rigidities and the Dynamic Effects of a Shockestimating SV models still took the best part of a week.

to Monetary Policy’,” an international conferenceWith Chris’ help however, I managed to finish myco-hosted by the Hitotsubashi University Global COE

dissertation and successfully completed my PhD. I felt

Program “Research Unit for Statistical and Empiricallike giving up on MCMC after that, because it just took

Analysis and Social Sciences” and the Bank of Japan’s

too long. As computers have become significantly

Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies. Christh2

Conferenceon

Frontiers

Modeling:

Thirtyin

Structural

Years

after

delivered a keynote speech at the conference, which

previously been taught by Chris at Minnesota, Yale

took place on January 23 and 24, 2010, at

and Princeton. Even Professor Thomas Sargent, theHitotsubashi University’s Mercury Tower, and I had theother winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, was able

honor of chairing the event. I compiled a summary of

to attend. I was also invited to give a paper on VAR

the conference for the Global COE Hi-Stat Newslettermodels, Chris’ specialist subject. He asked me some(http://gcoe.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/english/research/newsletterspenetrating questions that made me go pale and took

/PDF/Newsletter_No_4_English.pdf), so please feelme right back to my days as a student. I am currently

free to take a look. It would be difficult to get a Nobel

revising my paper based on Chris’ comments.

laureate to come and give such a speech, so I’m glad

My research to date has revolved primarily around

we invited him before he was awarded the prize. Whilefinancial econometrics, focusing particularly on asset

he was here, we also had a great time going to see

price volatility. In recent years however, I have finallysumo wrestling, which Chris really seemed to enjoy.

started to engage in macroeconomic analysis, thanks

Many of the participants of the conference now regret

to the increasing use of MCMC methods for thethat they did not take the opportunity to have theirestimation of macroeconometric models, based on

photo taken with Chris.

Chris’ research amongst others. I may have a long way

Following on from our conference, Seoul National

to go to live up to Chris himself, but I am determined to

University and the Korean Development Institutecontribute in some way to the research he has carried

hosted a conference titled “Recent Developments inout to date.

Dynamic Analysis in Economics － 30 Years after
Macroeconomics and Reality” from May 25 to 27, 2011.

This article originally appeared in Hitotsubashi University's

The event was attended by students who had

Hi-Stat Vox Series as Hi-Stat Vox No. 21.

Report on the Hitotsubashi-UNSW Conference on International Trade and FDIAkira Sasahara
COE Young Researcher
Department of Economics, Hitotsubashi University
From December 9 to 11, the Hitotsubashi-UNSW

Ishikawa and Taiji Furusawa presented their work in

Conference on International Trade and FDI was held at

front of economists from around the world.

the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The main
sessions, involving economists from around the world,
took place on December 10 and 11 and were precededby a special session for graduate students on
December 9, where three Ph.D. students from
Hitotsubashi and two from UNSW gave presentations
on their research. The students from Hitotsubashi
included Yoko Sakamoto, Ryo Makioka, and myself.
On the second day of the conference, Professors Jota

Author in the front row, second from the right3

Although the session on December 9 was only afluctuations on the price-setting behavior of a“graduate session,” it was attended by most of themulti-product firm. Because this research is very close

scholars giving presentations at the main session as

to the paper I presented on multi-product firms

well UNSW graduate students, providing us with theengaged in exporting, I found her presentation

opportunity to present our research in front of an

extremely stimulating. In addition, Professor Chatterjee

audience of about 30 participants. While the three ofprovided me with many valuable comments on my

us from Hitotsubashi have given presentations before,

paper and I would like to thank her for both her

this was the first time for us to do so at a conference ininteresting presentation and helpful comments.

English. Therefore, before leaving Japan, we had two

During the breaks, we were able to interact with thepractice sessions and tried to memorize key phrases

speakers as well as graduate students from UNSW.

and prepare answers to potential questions. Thanks to

Talking with UNSW graduate students allowed us notthese preparations, the feedback we received at the

only to learn about their work on international trade,

reception after the presentations was generallyinternational

positive. Yet, although I think (hope) our presentations

economics, and other various research fields, but also

were relatively fluent and intelligible, there were agave us an insight into life in Sydney and research atnumber of occasions where I could not fully catch the

UNSW.

macroeconomics,

experimental

meaning of comments and questions from theIn sum, the conference provided us with theaudience and had to ask participants to repeat them

opportunity to present our own research, to learn about

after the session. Thus, I realized how important it is to

cutting-edge research by world-renowned economists,

get used to international conferences and to polish ourand to interact with graduate students at UNSW. The

ability to speak English.

comments and questions from the audience willIn the main sessions on December 10 and 11,

improvethequalityof

ourresearchandtheleading researchers from Australia and around theexperiences we had at the conference will motivate us

world presented their latest research and actively

to do further research and increase the quality of ourdebated their theoretical models and empirical results.

research and presentations. In particular, we received

Listening to the presentations and discussions was

extremely helpful comments on our research and tips

extremely stimulating. Ryo Makioka, who has a strong

for future presentations from Professors Hodaka

interest in the Vietnamese economy, continued asking

Morita, Arghya Ghosh, and Alan Woodland at UNSW,Professor Richard Baldwin questions about the impact

as well as Tomohiro Ara, who was a graduate student

of

the

at Hitotsubashi and is now studying at UNSW. We

Vietnamese economy even after the sessions had

would like to thank them for their efforts and guidance.

ended. He said later that the discussion had provided

In addition, we would like to take this opportunity to

him with a much better understanding of thethank Professor Jota Ishikawa, who is our supervisor

Vietnamese economy. Meanwhile, Yoko Sakamotoand gave us the opportunity to present our work. We

took the opportunity to enthusiastically ask questions

are also indebted Professor Taiji Furusawa, whoof Professors Alan Woodland and Arghya Ghosh, whoprovided us with many insightful and encouraging

presented theoretical papers on coalition formationcomments at the session on the first day. Special

games in an international context, a topic very close to

thanks go to Ms. Chieko Takada, who provided

her own field of research.

administrative support and encouragement. Lastly, wetheso-called“secondunbundling”

on

As for myself, the talk I was most interested in was

are deeply grateful to the Hitotsubashi G-COE

the one by Professor Arpita Chatterjee, who presented

Program, which provided financial support for thean empirical analysis of the impact of exchange rate

conference. Thank you very much.

4

The program and papers of the Hitotsubashi-UNSW

found on the following website:

Conference on International Trade and FDI 2011 can be

http://www.econ.hit-u.ac.jp/~cces/COE2011_HP/program2011.htm

Zambia Field Survey Report
Ken Miura
COE Young Researcher
Department of Economics, Hitotsubashi University
In November 2011, I took part in a three-week field

design and sell actual weather insurance contracts. As

survey in rural Zambia. The dry season had almost

far as I am aware, this was the first attempt to do so infinished and the rainy season was on its way. AlthoughZambia.

they may have been busy with preparations for

The design of our insurance is very simple. If total

upcoming agricultural activities, the farmers were

rainfall recorded at the nearest Zambia Meteorologicalnevertheless willing to participate in our household

Department weather station is above 1,000mm (i.e.,survey.

heavy rain) or below 600mm (i.e., drought) in the
coming rainy season (November 2011-April 2012), theinsuree will receive a payout in May 2012. The price ofeach insurance contract is K5,000 (approximately
US$1) and, because of budget constraints, themaximum number of contracts each farmer wasallowed to purchase was set to 20. To be actuariallyfair, the premium rate was set at 20%, meaning that if aperson pays K10,000 in November 2011 and if the total
rainfall during the rainy season turns out to be above
1,000mm or below 600mm, he or she will receive
K50,000 in May 2012.

ZARI staff explaining weather index insurance(author on the right)

As part of the survey, I conducted a field experiment
selling weather index insurance. Weather index
insurance bases payouts on officially observableindexes such as rainfall and temperature. For thisreason, it avoids problems related to moral hazard andadverse selection, which often accompany typicalinsurance

contracts.

Workingwith

theZambiaLocals talking about their expectations for total rainfall

Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), the aim was toin the coming rainy season

5

The aim of my research is to examine what

asked again, and he replied that he had not changed

determines if an individual participates in the insurance

his mind and paid K5,000 to buy one insurance

scheme. However, if nobody purchased any insurance,

contract.

I would not be able to carry out my research. I wasThis was an auspicious start and the remainder oftherefore worried how the farmers would respond,

the survey also went well, so that eventually we had

given that there are numerous reasons why they might

successfully

not purchase any insurance. The first potential reason

households during the three weeks. The final take-up

is that many farmers in our study lack the most basic

rate for the insurance scheme was 93% and theeducation and even cannot write their names. Second,

average number of contracts purchased was 2.9. To

survey participants might not fully understand thebe honest, I was quite surprised by this outcome.

concept of insurance and I was concerned that few

However, about 60% of respondents purchased only

would appreciate the benefits of purchasing insurance.

one or two contracts, which will be insufficient to fully

Third, another potentially serious obstacle is thatcover potential income losses due to weather shocks.

participants simply lack the money to join the

Therefore, their main reason for purchasing insurance

insurance scheme. Studies conducted in India report

may have been not to disappoint us. Nevertheless,that these reasons resulted in a low take-up rate formore than 30% of all respondents bought four or more

weather insurance of only 4%. An additional obstacle

contracts. A household that has purchased fourin our case was that, unlike in the Indian case, thecontracts will receive K100,000 in the case of drought

study was conducted by a foreigner (i.e., me) who wasor heavy rain. Even if food prices increase due to bad

unfamiliar with the local culture and visited survey

weather, this will be enough to purchase a 50kg bag ofparticipants’ houses to explain and sell the insurance

maize, the staple food in Zambia, which will sustain anpolicy. It was thus with considerable anxiety that I

average family for a month.

collected

data

on

101

agriculturalembarked on the survey.
The first person I interviewed was Mr. J. M., whoeven in his village is relatively poor. In January 2010,
heavy rain had completely destroyed his house, sothat he sleeps in a small brick enclosure under his corn
crib. It is individuals vulnerable to weather-related
shocks just like him that potentially benefit fromweather index insurance, but there are many reasons
such as the ones mentioned above that prevent themfrom purchasing insurance. How would he respond?
During the interview, I asked him twice whether heMembers of a family that took part in the household survey

wanted to purchase the insurance. The first time I
asked him was just after I had explained the insurance

Looking back, being involved in the household

policy. Unexpectedly, he answered yes. Accordingly, atsurvey was a very exciting experience for me.

the end of the interview, I asked further questions

However, this is just the starting point. In fact, weather

about the insurance policy contract to test his level ofindex insurance is a topic on which research has only

understanding. He got two out of the five easy

recently begun and there remain many unansweredquestions wrong, so that his unexpected response

questions. Therefore, we are going to conduct several

could have been due to a lack of understanding. Yet,follow-up surveys in the near future. The amount ofafter clearing up the parts he did not understand, I

rainfall during the rainy season (November 2011 to6

April 2012) will determine whether the insurance will

Acknowledgements:

have to pay out, and this in turn will greatly influence

The research trip to Zambia was supported by a G-COE

farmers’ behavior in the future and the design of ourOverseas Research Grant. I would like to express mynext surveys. Thus, as I finish writing these lines, I finddeepest thanks here. Moreover, I am very grateful to mymyself thinking a lot about rainfall in Zambia.

assistants in Zambia, Mr. Katundu and Mr. Evance. Special
thanks are also due to the survey respondents and theirfamilies for their enthusiastic participation in the interviews.

Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Papers (August 2011－December 2011)
No. 202 (August 2011) Kazuya Wada, “What Effect

No.

209

(October

2011)

Yoshimasa

Uematsu,

Does Female Autonomy Have on Child Health?

“Regression with a Slowly Varying Regressor in theMicroeconometric Evidence from Rural India.”

Presence of a Unit Root.”

No.

203

(August2011)

Qing-yuan

Sui,

“The

No. 210 (December 2011) Kei Nanamiya, “TheDeterminations of the Type and the Level ofWavelet-based Estimation for Long Memory Signal

Consideration: An Analysis of China's Split Share

Plus Noise Models.”

Structure Reform (in Japanese).”No. 211 (December 2011) Eiji Satoh, “Nontransferable

No. 204 (September 2011) Kazuharu Kiyono and Jota

Water Rights and Technical Inefficiency in the

Ishikawa, “Environmental Management Policy underJapanese Water Supply Industry.”

International Carbon Leakage.”No. 212 (December 2011) Yoshiko Nagano, “TheNo. 205 (September 2011) Yuko Mori and Takashi

Philippine National Bank and Lending in Agriculture:

Kurosaki, “Does Political Reservation Affect Voting

1916-1930.”

Behavior? Empirical Evidence from India.”No. 213 (December 2011) Yoshiko Nagano, “TheNo. 206 (October 2011) Zhao Chen, Ming Lu, andEmergence of Modern Banking System in the

Zheng Xu, “A Core-Periphery Model of Urban
Economic

Growth:Empirical

Evidence

Philippines during the American Colonial Period.”Using

No. 214 (December 2011) Masato Ubukata andChinese City-Level Data, 1990-2006.”

ToshiakiNo. 207 (October 2011) Toshio Honda, “Nonparametric
208(October

2011)“Market

Variance

Risk

Premiums in Japan as Predictor Variables and

LAD Cointegrating Regression.”
No.

Watanabe,

Indicators of Risk Aversion.”

Yoshimasa

Uematsu,“Asymptotic Efficiency of the OLS Estimator with

Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series

Singular Limiting Sample Moment Matrices.”

http://gcoe.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/english/research/discussion/index.html

Seminars and Conferences (August 2011－December 2011)st

221 (August 19, 2011)
Socio-Economic

History

Symposium,
Society

Summer“Rethinking

LabourandIndustrialization in Global Context: Occupational

7

Structure,

Economic

Geography,

Gender,andReservation Affect Voting Behavior? Empirical

Migration”

Evidence from India”

co-organized

with

Osaka

University’sth

225 (October 11, 2011)

MEXT

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Project on

Workshop on International Trade and FDI“Female Occupational Structure in England in the

co-organized with the Tokyo Center for EconomicthFirst Half of the 19 Century”
Leigh

Shaw-Taylor“Industrialisation,

Research (TCER)(University

EconomicofCambridge),

Development

Andres Akerman (Stockholm University), “A Theory

andon the Role of Wholesalers in International Trade”th

226 (October 13, 2011)

Occupational Structure: Secondary and Tertiaryth

30 Global COE Research Workshop

Sector Growth,”
Osamu

Saito

(Hitotsubashi

Akira

University),

Sasahara(Hitotsubashi

University),“By-employment, Gender and Sectoral Labour“Two-sided Firm Heterogeneity, Random Matching,

Productivity,”

and Trade Liberalization”th

227 (October 25, 2011)

Jelle van Lottum (University of Cambridge), “Labour
Migration and Economic Development in Global

Industrial

Perspective,”

Workshop

Chiaki Yamamoto (Osaka University), “Staying or

co-organized with the TCER Seminar

Leaving? Gender, Job Opportunity, and Poor Law

Martin Hemmert (Korea University Business School),

Administration in Nineteenth-Century England”“Cultivating

222

nd

(August 25, 2011)

Organization

Economics

University-Industry

Researchth

228 (October 28-30, 2011)

Human Capital and Economic Development in

The

Historical Perspective”“High-Frequency

with

Labor

Collaborations in Korea: The Role of Social Capital”

G-COE Hi-Stat Seminar “Occupational Structure,

co-organized

and

Osaka

University’s

SecondInternational
Data

Conference

AnalysisinonFinancialMarkets”

MEXT

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Project on

co-organized with the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific“Female Occupational Structure in England in the

Research (A) on "Financial Risk: Quantification andthFirst Half of the 19 Century”
Leigh

Shaw-Taylor(University

Statistical Inference"ofCambridge),

Torben Andersen (Northwestern University), Tim“Economic Development and Structural Change

Bollerslev(Duke

Since 1700: New Evidence in a Global Perspective,”(European

University

Jelle van Lottum (University of Cambridge), “Human

University) and others

Capital and Economic Performance in Europe

229 (November 1, 2011)

University),
InstitutePeter

HansenandStanfordth

Before the Industrial Revolution: Evidence from theIndustrial

Maritime Sector”

Workshoprd

223 (October 5, 2011)

Organization

and

Labor

Economics

co-organized with the TCER Seminar

Global COE Seminar

Mitsukuni Nishida (Johns Hopkins University),

Nahm Joon Wu (Sogang University), “Asset Pricing“Explaining

Reallocation's

Apparent

Theory and the Valuation of Korean Paintings: A

Contribution

toin

Semiparametric Model of Hedonic Pricing”

Developing Countries”

thGrowthNegative

Deregulation-Erath

224 (October 6, 2011)

230 (November 5-6, 2011)thth

29 Global COE Research Workshop

6 Applied Econometrics Conference

Yuko Mori (Hitotsubashi University), “Does Politicalco-organized with the Osaka University Global COE

8

Program “Human Behavior and Socioeconomic

Industryth

236 (November 29, 2011)

Dynamics” and TCER
st

Industrialst

31 Global COE Research Workshop

Workshop

Dashtseren Khashbaatar (Hitotsubashi University),

co-organized with the TCER Seminar“Bootstrapping the Largest Eigenvalue in Principal

Ryuichi Tanaka (National Graduate Institute for

Component Analysis”

Policy Studies), “Estimating the Effects of Pro-Natal

231 (November 10, 2011)nd

232 (November 15, 2011)
Industrial

Organization

Organization

and

Labor

Economics

Policies on Residential Choice and Fertility” (with
and

Labor

Economics

Ryo Nakajima)th

237 (December 1, 2011)

Workshoprd

co-organized with the TCER Seminar

33 Global COE Research Workshop

Dainn Wie (National Graduate Institute for Policy

Yasuhiro

Studies), “Projection Bias and Divorce Cooling-off“Formation of Decentralized Manufacturer-Supplier

Periods”

Networked Markets”rdShirata(Hitotsubashi

University),th

233 (November 19, 2011)

238 (December 10-11, 2011)

Workshop on Analytical Political EconomyTheco-organized with the Center for Research on

International Trade and FDI 2011

Contemporary Economic Systems

Richard Baldwin (The Graduate Institute, Geneva),

Simon Mohun (University of London at Queen Mary),

Arpita Chatterjee (University of New South Wales),“Rate of Profit and Crisis in the US Economy: A

Rodney Falvey (Bond University), Taiji Furusawa

Class Perspective,”(Hitotsubashi University), Arghya Ghosh (University

Takashi Ohno (Ritsumeikan University), ”The Rolesof New South Wales), Jota Ishikawa (Hitotsubashi

of Monetary Policy for Economic Growth: From the

University), Carol McAusland (University of British

Viewpoint of an Endogenous Market Structure,”

Columbia),

Hiroyuki Yoshida (Nihon University), ”Economic

Melbourne), Mark Melatos (University of Sydney),Intermittency in a Two-Country Model of Business

Xuan Nguyen (Deakin University), Alan Woodland

Cycles Coupled by Investment”(University of New South Wales)thHitotsubashi-UNSW

Phillip

Conference

McClaman(University

on

of

th

234 (November 24, 2011)

239 (December 15, 2011)ndth

32 Global COE Research Workshop

34 Global COE Research Workshop

Ryo Makioka (Hitotsubashi University), “Trade,Jumpei Hagiwara (Hitotsubashi University), “Model

Unemployment, and Reallocation

Averaging with Dependent Data”

with

Searchth240 (December 21, 2011)

Frictions”thth

235 (November 25, 2011)
Japan-Korea

onco-organized with the Institute for Research on

Measurement Issues in Productivity Databases forHousehold Economics, the COE Programs of Keio

Asian Countries”

University and Osaka University, and the Institute ofco-organized

Joint

11 Panel Survey Conference

withWorkshop:“Workshop

Gakushuin

University’s

Social Science at the University of Tokyo

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) Project“Empirical Research on Intangible Investment in

Past Seminars

Japan (ERII),” the Korea Productivity Center (KPC),

http://gcoe.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/english/events/past_seminars/index.html

and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and9Awards
Nakahara Award from the Japan Association ofMember of the Japan Academy

Business Cycle studies

Professor Emeritus Kotaro Suzumura of Hitotsubashi

Prof. Toshiaki Watanabe, Program Member of the

University, the leader of the 21st Century COE

Global COE Hi-Stat Program, won the Nakahara

Program “Normative Evaluation and Social Choice ofAward from the Japan Association of Business Cycle

Contemporary Economic Systems,” the predecessor ofstudies (JABC). He delivered a presentation titled “Thethe G-COE Hi-Stat program, was selected as a

Application of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)

member of the Japan Academy.

Methods

toMacroeconometric

Models”

atthecommendation ceremony on November 19, 2011.

Global COE Hi-Stat Newsletter No. 7 (January 2012)
Issued by Hitotsubashi University Global COE Program
Research Unit for Statistical and Empirical Analysis in Social Sciences
c/o Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University
2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186-8603 Japan
Tel: +81-42-580-8386
Fax: +81-42-580-8333
E-mail: GCOE-info@ier.hit-u.ac.jp
URL: http://gcoe.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/english/

10