Sébastien Lechevalier

The Effect of Participation in Government Consortia on the R&D Productivity of Firms: A Case Study of Robot Technology in Japan

This paper examines the effect of participation in government-sponsored R&D consortia on the R&D productivity of firms in the case of robot technology in Japan. We attempt to provide a new empirical analysis and discussions on the issue of government project evaluation by investigating the impact of the evolution of government programs, and to compare government-sponsored R&D consortia with collaborative R&D among firms. Using indicators of the quality of patents, which enables us to provide an estimation of quality-adjusted research productivity, we find that participation in government programs has a positive impact on the research productivity of participating firms. Moreover, the impact of participation became much higher after the design of government programs in this field changed in the late 1990s. Also, we find that participation in government-sponsored consortia has a greater impact on research productivity than participation in collaborative R&D among firms. This may support government involvement in R&D as a coordinator of R&D collaboration.

Wage and Productivity Differentials in Japan: The Role of Labor Market Mechanisms

This paper aims at explaining two stylized facts of the Lost Decade in Japan: rising wage inequalities and increasing firm-level productivity differentials. We build a model where firms can choose between efficiency wages with endogenous effort and competitive wages, and show that it can replicate those facts. Using Japanese microeconomic data, we find support for the existence of efficiency wages in one group of firms and competitive wages in the other group. Based on those results, a simulation shows that the share of firms using efficiency wages has declined, within sectors, during the Lost Decade, as predicted by the model.

Japanese political economy revisited: diverse corporate change, institutional transformation, and Abenomics

Abstract This introductory article to the special issue on “Japanese Political Economy Revisited: Diverse Corporate Change, Institutional Transformation, and Abenomics” starts with a short summaryof the changing perceptions of Japans political economy from its meteoric rise as worldwide leading model in the 1970s and 1980s to its demotiontoa problem and reform case since the later 1990s. Based on this overview, it identifies some striking issue and open questions in this conventional view of Japans political economy as problem and the high expectations on Abenomics as Japans current economic reform programme. Then we discuss the articles of the special issue and their new contributionsto a better understanding of the developments at the corporate level as well as institutional change and economic reforms at the macro level in the last two decades. Finally, this introductory article ends with a short outlineof a new research programme and four central research questions about the Japanese political economy.

Abenomics: has it worked? Will it ultimately fail?

Abstract Abenomics initially generated high expectations but it has more recently come to be seen as yet another failed economic experiment. In addition, discussion of Abenomics often verges on caricature. It is thus crucial to provide a critical and balanced evaluation. We argue that, over the past five years, the proactive policies pursued under Abenomics played a decisive role in reversing one cause of the Japanese slowdown – inconsistent economic policies – and that they are now yielding preliminary results. We are more critical with regard to long-term issues: as the case of trade policy shows, the problem is not so much a lack of structural reform as limits to its ability to increase Japans growth potential.

L'inégalité homme - femme au coeur de la segmentation du marché du travail japonais ? Une prise en compte du genre dans l'analyse du rapport salarial toyotiste

Dans cet article, on se propose d’evaluer les changements intervenus dans les inegalites hommes-femmes depuis le debut de la crise contemporaine au Japon. Pour ce faire, on procede tout d’abord a une mise en perspective historique du differentiel de salaire entre les hommes et les femmes depuis les annees 1950. Ensuite, on passe en revue deux types d’interpretations contradictoires, positive et negative, de l’evolution depuis le debut des annees 1990, qu’on ne peut reconcilier qu’en prenant en compte l’evolution globale du marche du travail et des inegalites, marquee respectivement par une montee du chomage et une « resegmentation » du marche du travail suivant de nouvelles lignes de clivage. Enfin, on propose une tentative de conceptualisation, en integrant le genre dans l’analyse du rapport salarial japonais. Cela permet en retour de comprendre les limites de l’evolution contemporaine et de preciser les enjeux d’une politique d’egalite hommes-femmes digne de ce nom.