Empirical Microeconomics Group
Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo
ABOUT US
Welcome! This is a brief introduction to our empirical micro group at the University of Tokyo.
As you can see below, we are fairly large group and span most major areas of empirical microeconomics research. The atmosphere in the department is very collegial and research focused. We have an (almost) weekly empirical micro research seminar, nice facilities, several affiliated research centers, lots of international visitors, and excellent graduate students. Our beautiful campus is located in central Tokyo on the former estate of a samurai family. Life in Tokyo is great with a mix of ancient and modern, excellent transportation, a fantastic restaurant scene, mild weather, and easy access to both the ocean and mountains. Tokyo is routinely ranked above the top global cities for economy, liveability, and safety. We hope you would consider applying to our department and joining us!
Members
CHEN, Stacey
(Labor, Development, Education, Health)
My research focuses on the causes and consequences of inequality and the evaluation of public policy. My recent working papers examine whether social ties can mitigate agency problems in medical care systems, the causal effect of maternal education on child health in Africa, and how university opening affects female education and career decisions.
FURUSAWA, Taiji
(Trade)
Production networks and global value chain, Financial imperfection and international trade
IIZUKA, Toshiaki
(Health, Empirical Industrial Organization)
Toshi's research interests are in the field of health economics and industrial organization. He has written articles on incentive and information in the health care markets, which appeared in leading economics journals, including American Economic Review, RAND Journal of Economics, and Journal of Health Economics.
KAWAGUCHI, Daiji
(Labor)
My field of research is labor economics focusing on the formation and utilization of human capital. I have worked on the skill accumulation of self-employed workers, the effect of family background and academic performance, wage inequality, and the assessment of various labor market policies. I am also working on the human resource allocation within a firm using proprietary personnel data sets.
OHASHI, Hiroshi
(Industrial Organization, Competition Policy)
Industrial Organization; Economics of Markets and Competition Policy
SATO, Yasuhiro
(Urban)
My field of research is urban and regional economics, focusing on migration between cities or regions, and fiscal externalities.
SAWADA, Yasuyuki
(Development, International)
Research Theme
I am working on the following issues:
(1) Natural and Manmade Disasters
(2) Impact Evaluation of Education Policies
(3) Official Development Assistance
(4) Economic Analysis of Suicide
(5) Dualistic Development
(6) Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Japan
SHOJI, Masahiro
(Development)
My field of research is development economics focusing on (1) individual behavior before, during, and after natural disasters; (2) social capital; (3) social isolation; (4) conformism; (5) crime; (6) formation of personality and preference; and (7) commercial sex work and human trafficking.
TAKASAKI, Yoshito
(Development, Resource, Field Experiments)
Poverty; Political economy; Institution; Geography; Space; Community; Social network; Ethnicity; Conflict; Crime; Disability; Labor; Education; Health; Behavior; Risk; Natural disaster; Tropical forest; Shifting cultivation; Rural livelihoods; Conservation
TANAKA, Ryuichi
(Labor, Education, Applied Econometrics)
The main focus of my research is on education economics and labor economics. I am running a project, "Primary and Secondary Education under Declining Population: An Empirical Analysis with Administrative Data," supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
WATANABE, Yasutora
(Empirical Microeconomics, Quantitative Marketing)
Professor Watanabe's research is on a wide range of topics from bank mergers to strategic voting and product recommendation in the fields of industrial organization, political economics, law and economics, and quantitative marketing. His research appeared in leading journals including American Economic Review, AEJ Applied, AEJ Micro, Management Science and Marketing Science.
YAMAGUCHI, Shintaro
(Labor, Family)
Professor Yamaguchi has expertise in empirical research in labor economics and economics of the family. Applying the structural estimation approach, he has written papers on job search, human capital formation, and gender wage gaps. He currently studies child development, women in the labor market, and public policies.
GRIFFEN, Andrew S.
(Labor, Development, Education, Health)
Research Theme I am interested in estimating economic models of behavior for predicting the outcomes of prospective policies across a wide range of issues in labor, child development, nutrition, savings, insurance and retirement.
KUCHERYAVYY, Konstantin
(International Trade, International Finance)
My research fields are International Trade and International Finance. In the International Trade, I am interested in theoretical aspects of models that can be used for trade policy recommendations. In the past several years, I focused on models featuring external economies of scale. I am also interested in theoretical and empirical aspects of firms' behaviour: export and FDI decisions, entry to and exit from foreign markets, etc.
MARSZALEC, Daniel Janusz
(Auctions, Market Design, Experiments, Resource Economics)
My research applies market design and auction theory to empirical data, policy design, and resource allocation. Among others, I have analysed financial data from government debt auctions, medical procurement, and fishing permit allocation. I have advised governments and private companies on the design and implementation of auctions for mobile spectrum, restructuring automotive procurement, and auction-based methods for allocating subsidies to SMEs.
WAKAMORI, Naoki
(Empirical Industrial Organization, Finance, Health)
I am interested in analyzing behaviors of firms and my main field of research lies in industrial organization. Topics covered my work include: network effects and dynamic competition of retail payment providers in mutli-sided markets; vertical relationships and medical equipment adoption of hospitals in health care markets; and the effects of regulation on the hedge fund industry or policy-based finance for SMEs in financial markets.