Contingent valuation method can increase procedural justice

We hypothesized that the contingent valuation method (CVM) can enhance the procedural justice of policy formation as perceived by people generally, which in turn increases public acceptance of policy. In Study 1, a survey (n=484) asked whether respondents would accept a one-off tax, the purpose of which would be to protect the natural environment of Yakushima Island, Japan. In one condition, the respondents were told that the amount of the one-off tax was determined using the CVM. In a second condition, no such instruction was given. In Study 2, 55 subjects were asked to indicate their acceptance, or otherwise, of a one-off tax for the protection of the natural environment of Yakushima Island when the tax was determined using the CVM, and when the tax was determined using cost–benefit analysis. The data from the survey and the experiment confirmed the hypothesis that the CVM enhanced the perceived procedural justice and acceptance of the tax.     

College tuition payment and household consumption in Japan

Because tuition payment comprises a large proportion of expenses in households with children in universities, it causes large and clearly predictable changes in discretionary income in predetermined months. This study examines consumption smoothing for those households as an alternative test of the life-cycle/permanent income hypothesis, using the Japanese Family Income and Expenditure Survey. We show that a one yen decrease in discretionary income due to tuition payment is associated with 0.1–0.2 yen decrease in non-tuition spending in the month of tuition payment, showing that those households are not engaged in consumption smoothing.     

Minimal Basis for a Connected Markov Chain over 3 × 3 ×K Contingency Tables with Fixed Two-Dimensional Marginals

This paper considers a connected Markov chain for sampling 3 × 3 ×K contingency tables having fixed two‐dimensional marginal totals. Such sampling arises in performing various tests of the hypothesis of no three‐factor interactions. A Markov chain algorithm is a valuable tool for evaluating P‐values, especially for sparse datasets where large‐sample theory does not work well. To construct a connected Markov chain over high‐dimensional contingency tables with fixed marginals, algebraic algorithms have been proposed. These algorithms involve computations in polynomial rings using Gröbner bases. However, algorithms based on Gröbner bases do not incorporate symmetry among variables and are very time‐consuming when the contingency tables are large. We construct a minimal basis for a connected Markov chain over 3 × 3 ×K contingency tables. The minimal basis is unique. Some numerical examples illustrate the practicality of our algorithms.     

Why Men Commit Crimes (and Why They Desist)

Hirschi and Gottfredson (1983) claim that the relationship between age and crime is similar in all social and cultural conditions and that no current sociological or criminological theory can account for this similarity. We introduce the new field of evolutionary psychology and extend Daly and Wilson's (1988) work on homicide to construct a general theory of male criminality, which explains why men commit violent and property crimes. The theory can also explain the age-crime curve. It might also account for some empirical anomalies such as why physically smaller boys are more delinquent, and why violent criminals desist more slowly.     

Biogeographical history of northeastern Asiatic soricine shrews (insectivora, mammalia)

A hypothetical biogeographical history of northeastern Asiatic soricine shrews in the late Quaternary was developed by integrating their present distributions, fossil records, a hypothetical phylogeny, and geological investigations. First, a biological area cladogram of the northeastern Asiatic region was constructed by applying the vicariance hypothesis to the phylogeny of thecaecutiens/shinto group, a monophyletic group proposed by Ohdachi et al. (1997). Comparing the biological area cladogram with a geological hypothesis by Ohshima (1990,1991,1992), we hypothesized a geographical history of northeastern Asia. Species were then located on the dendrogram of the geographical history, referring to the present distributions, fossil records, and phylogeny of shrews. According to our hypothesis, higher species diversity of the northern region of northeastern Asia (Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Eastern Siberia) was achieved by several series of colonizations and habitat expansion. On the other hand, the shrew communities of the southern region (Honshu, Sado, Shikoku, and Kyushu) were created by extinction and isolation followed by speciation.     

The tube method for the moment index in projection pursuit

The projection pursuit index defined by a sum of squares of the third and the fourth sample cumulants is known as the moment index proposed by Jones and Sibson [1987. What is projection pursuit? J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. A 150, 1–36]. The limiting distribution of the maximum of the moment index under the null hypothesis that the population is multivariate normal is shown to be the maximum of a Gaussian random field with a finite Karhunen–Loève expansion. An approximate formula for tail probability of the maximum, which corresponds to the p-value, is given by virtue of the tube method through determining Weyl's invariants of all degrees and the critical radius of the index manifold of the Gaussian random field.     

汉文《地球说略》在日本的出版与传播

美国传教士在中国传教期间翻译编著了一些宗教书籍和科普书籍,对中国人认识世界提供了一定的基本理论和基本知识。这些汉文西洋科学译书传入日本后,便以和刻本方式翻刻或译述传播开来,在日本普及了科学知识。《地球说略》作为世界地理学的入门书籍曾被日本人广泛地阅读,成为深受欢迎的地理书籍和介绍西洋情况的书籍。     

Changes in durable stocks, portfolio allocation, and consumption expenditure in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake

To understand the household recovery process from unexpected serious damage caused by a natural disaster, we analyze household data from the Kobe earthquake in 1995. We address three questions—how damaged stocks of durable wealth are reinvested, how an ex post portfolio of borrowing or dissaving is reallocated to diversify the asset shocks caused by the disaster, and how formal and informal consumption insurance mechanisms are effective for amending home damage—all of which have been largely unanswered. We obtain three findings. First, people respond to negative income changes and housing damage by reinvesting damaged wealth. Second, households borrow extensively to amend the large housing damage caused by the earthquake. However, they dissave only for minor household asset damage. Third, consumption smoothing is not achieved for nondurable goods that are significantly affected by negative income changes and household asset damage. These findings suggest that asset shocks caused by a large natural disaster are not sufficiently diversified for households, indicating a large gap in designing effective insurance mechanisms.