yokohama national university newsletter€¦ · from all of us at mpe, we wish everyone a happy new...

December 2018

Inside This Issue

Message from

the Director

2-8 Articles by

Students

9-11 Student

News

12

Department

News

Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program

： Master’s Program in Public Policy and Taxation

Yokohama National University

NEWSLETTER I S S U E 42

Message from the Director Greetings from what is becoming a very chilly winter here in Yokohama!

I would first like to give a warm (and belated) welcome to our 8 new students. Five are, of course, in the PPT program, two are from our Indonesia Linkage Program (ILP) with Gadjah Mada University and the University of Indonesia and one is in the more recently established AEBI, or African Economics and Business Initiative Program. Please read the self-introductions of the new PPT students on our website (http://www.economics.ynu.ac.jp/ppt/message/messages02.html).

It has been four years since we have had an AEBI (Or `ABE` Initiative and MEXT calls it) scholar. We are very happy to have Abhram from Ethiopia join the YNU-MPE family.

The second year students, PPT and ILP alike, are keeping busy trying to stay warm and write their theses. Almost done. Hang it there!

Things are running smoothly as usual under the guidance of our overqualified staff. Thank you for another year well done!

As always, please spread the words about YNU and the various MPE programs to your friends and colleagues.

Also, `drop us a line` (20th century American English) and let us know how you are doing via email or the Facebook page.

From all of us at MPE, we wish everyone a Happy New Year filled with happiness and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Craig R. Parsons MPE Director

Article A History of Japanese Security Policy, ‘Samurais and Warrior Salarymen’

Special Topic Lecture By Nia Dianti, Indonesia, ILP

All details about Japan are truly interesting for foreign students like me, and maybe for all foreign students at YNU. Knowing new things about Japan is like the process of solving a mysterious puzzle that generates curiosity. Therefore, the special lecture on Japanese history was the right choice to refresh the students of Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) and the Indonesia Linkage Program (ILP) from the routine activity of studying economics.

On June 20, 2018, Max Warrack, an expert in Japanese History from Sagan Speak Ltd, delivered a special topic lecture to MPE students about the History of Japanese Security Policy. Previously he graduated from the University of Edinburgh in History and University of Sheffield in Japanese Studies. Probably the same as several foreign students of MPE, his love and curiosity about Japan has started from the time he was a child.

With enthusiasm Mr. Warrack explained that his interest in Japanese history initially derives from samurai. However, this time he did not explain about samurai even though this lecture’s subtitle was "Samurais and Warrior Salarymen". He used samurai as a metaphor of the Japanese military. Mr. Warrack focused more on changes that occur in Japanese security policy, from the Meiji Era in which Japan began to open itself to the international world and called itself as “rich nation, strong army”, up to the current government which he calls the Abe Doctrine. Many changes have occurred since the Meiji Era. Mr. Warrack pointed out that Japan’s security policy has undergone several major changes since the end of the Shogunate: from isolationist, imperial, conciliatory, expansionist, to pacifist. The latest pacifist security policy has gradually eroded over time, most noticeably over the past 30 years with the end of cold war. However, despite this erosion, the anti-militarist norm will restrain Japan greatly. In 2014, Prime Minister Abe’s effort to reform Article 9 and gave more role to the Japan military did not seem to run smoothly because of cultural context where Japanese society is now deeply concerned with peace. By looking at Japan’s current situation, Mr. Warrack predicts that in the future Japan's security policy will likely continue to follow the Yoshida Doctrine, which allowed Japan to focus on economic development and continue with Japan as a peaceful nation.

The special lecture ended with exciting discussions from some sensei and students. Professor Yamazaki conveyed the opinion that peace has now become a "religion" in Japan, which is upheld by most citizens. That's why the war and military thing does not seem to have prominent role in Japan anymore. Some students also asked several interesting questions before the lecture finally ended at 16:10.

Thank you Mr. Warrack for such an interesting special lecture!

MPE - PPT NEWSLETTER PAGE 2

Blockchain Technology and the Decentralized Economy Special Topic Lecture

By Ariful Hoque, Bangladesh, Cohort 19

We had a Special Topic Lecture (STL) on ‘Blockchain Technology and the Decentralized Economy’. It was an exciting lecture delivered by Professor Craig Calcaterra. He began his lecture by providing us with good knowledge about Bitcoin.

We came to know that Bitcoin is a new currency that was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks! Bitcoin can be used to book hotels on Expedia, shop for furniture on Overstock and buy Xbox games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it. The price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017.

Bitcoin blockchain is used to transfer money between users internationally. Bitcoin is decentralized, autonomous, anonymous, secure, and cheap. People compete to “mine” bitcoins using computers to solve complex math puzzles. This is how bitcoins are created. Currently, a winner is rewarded with 12.5 bitcoins roughly every 10 minutes.

The two main mathematical concepts that underlie blockchain technology are: 1) hash functions 2) public key cryptography.

In the classroom we all tried to get three zeroes to start this process. It is always truly motivating to learn new things!

However, no one knows what will become of bitcoin. It is mostly unregulated, but some countries like Japan, China and Australia have begun weighing regulations. Governments are concerned about taxation and their lack of control over the currency.

My sincere appreciation is extended to Yokohama National University, the Professors and MPE’s Office staff for arranging this brilliant Special Topic Lecture (STL).


Field Trip: Hakone, A Historical “Sekisho” in the Tokaido Road during the Edo Period By Raymond Rayendra Elven, Indonesia, ILP

It was a profound experience to have a one-day field trip held by the MPE Office on the 2nd of July 2018. The first-year and second- year students of PPT altogether with the ILP students visited Hakone, one of the most famous “onsen” or hot spring resorts in Japan with over 20 million visitors annually. The town of Hakone is located at the center of Fuji-Hakone-Izu national park in the most western region of Kanagawa Prefecture, which is adjacent to Tokyo. From Lake Ashinoko in Hakone, the tourists will have a great view of Japan’s highest mountain, Mount Fuji. Hakone also has a historical perspective as a “sekisho” or checkpoint area used by many travelers in the Edo era. Hakone is 1 of 53 “sekisho” during the Shogunate of the Tokugawa period. It was considered as one of the largest and important checkpoints. After a brief explanation about Hakone from the tourism board, the students went to Owakudani and Kanazashi Wood Craft. Faculty members and the students in front of “Sekisho”

Owakudani means the great boiling valley. It was formed by the eruption and subsequent volcanic activity of central cone called Mount Kamiyama approximately 3,000 years ago. Because of the desolate landscape, Owakudani has been famous for its name, called “Daijigoku” or the “vast hell”. In Owakudani, there is a Hakone Geo-museum where I discovered new facets of Hakone. I experienced the wonders of volcanoes and the history of Hakone. The focus of the story in this museum is Owakudani itself, as well as the areas of Mount Kanmurigatake and Mount Kamiyama, Lake Ashinoko, Sengokuhara, and Hakone Onsen. In this museum, I also learned about the threats and hazards of the volcano.

In Owakudani, there is a 4 km long Hakone-Yama ropeway available between Sounzan and Togendai, and Owakudani is a transferring station in-between at the highest altitude of 1,044 meters above sea level. From the ropeway, I can feel an experience of walking in the air with a breathtaking view of Mount Fuji, Lake Ashinoko, and volcanic fumes. Owakudani is also famous for its “Kuro-Tamago” or black boiled eggs. The eggs turn black when boiled using the Owakudani “onsen” or hot spring water. The reason for this phenomenon is still unknown. The tale said that one black egg prolongs life by 7 years. However, it also contains high cholesterol that could harm the elderly.

The mountain area of Hakone is also well known for its diverse variety of trees. Artisan began making these wood works in geometric patterns bringing out the natural color of wood at Hatajuku of Hakone Mountain in the late Tokugawa Shogunate era. This is the roots of so-called “yosegi zaiku” or an elaborate inlaid and mosaic wooden craft that made in Hakone. In Kanazashi Wood Craft, I was showed by a professional wood crafter how to make Japanese wooden marquetry. After that, I had a chance to make my own “yosegi zaiku”.

A one-day trip to Hakone was bringing me to a joyful trip and a memorable moment during my studies at Yokohama National University. For that, in this opportunity, I would like to express my biggest gratitude to the MPE office, particularly to Ikejima Sensei, Parsons sensei and his team. Arigatou gozaimasu.



The Global Financial Crisis: 10 Years On Special Topic Lecture

By Su Hla Phyu, Myanmar, Cohort 20

The special lecture on 10 years on from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis delivered by Professor Byron Gangnes on November 7 (Wednesday) in YNU was truly interesting for the students of Joint Japan / World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ / WBGSP) and the Indonesia Linkage Program (ILP) who are studying economics and can learn lots of lessons from the Lehman shock.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Investment Bank signaled the start of this crisis.

Professor Byron Gangnes explains during the Special Topic Lecture

What happened. In the US in the 2000s decade, major house price rises were taking place throughout the whole country with prices trebling or more encouraging investment in houses. At around the same time, financial markets developed new products and relaxed many rules which aggressively promoted credit and let large numbers of people, who previously were not eligible to gain credit. Credit expanded fueling more demand for and price rises of homes. They led to speculative trading of loans, bond and various securities, especially sub- prime loans. At one point, prices topped out and sharp price crashes ensued. Home buyers ending up with negative-equity stopped paying. Many could not repay as the over-priced homes proved too expensive for the incomes. Prices of mortgage-backed bond and similar assets fell dramatically leading to heavy losses, write-offs which in turn led to insolvencies. Casualties were finance companies, hedge funds, insurance companies.

In many other countries the story was similar. UK government had to bail out Northern Rock Building Society and many other big banks to avoid damaging its whole economy.


Mistrust between lending banks over the sub-prime loans resulted in freezing-up of credit precipitating in a downturn in the economy and created massive job losses, business failures, etc. Trade-centered Asian countries were also affected.

Why it happened. Financial products innovation and regulatory authorities’ failure to respond to them.

Many smaller loans were mixed together pooling safe loans with suspect high risk one, to spread risk, and traded as bonds in markets. It was not transparent how much these sub-prime loan bundles contained poor loans. Loan originators did not worry about its risks as they were sold onto others encouraging even more credit creation.

Rating agencies tended to give more favorable ratings than what should be given to win more business from the bond markets. Their credit scoring systems were opaque as well.

Regulators allowed higher leverage limits and failed to prevent banks’ over-exposure.

Monetary policies regarding interest rates around that period were set very low to increase liquidity and make money cheaper. The US rates were already low during 2002 to 2005 and were raised too slowly to correct the liquidity situation for 2½ years.

Foreign funds, especially from East Asia, were sucked into the US by the house price bubble causing a savings glut. Savings rates were much higher in Asia for various reasons.

How policy makers responded. Governments spent huge sums ($bill. 800+ in US) using all the monetary, fiscal and industrial policies stimuluses to bail out banks, increasing government spending, giving tax cuts, etc.

Recovery from the crisis. It has been long and hard, and much weaker than the previous recoveries in US as this recession was bigger with a GDP fall of 6-8%. Tighter credit, slow housing market, consumers leveraging and attributing to lower investment and productivity growth. Increased trade in US is no longer the great engine of growth as in the past.

Next crisis. Difficult to predict. Present concerns center on:

Stock price rises in the US, given the rises just before the two biggest past recessions, are P/E ratios too optimistic and high?

Debt levels, both household and corporate debt, rising in the whole world. Some countries may have been too low in the past and are only catching up. However, lending is more conservative.

Trump Effect, though small now and probably manageable, can become serious if the trade war escalates.

Forecast. UN, IMF and many agencies predict a favorable world trade and economy for the short term up to 2020 compared to conditions 10 years ago.

Lastly, I would like to extend my appreciation to Professor Craig Parsons for arranging the lecture and special thanks to Professor Gangnes for giving us an opportunity to learn this thought-provoking topic.

The Development Challenge of Tackling Inequality: The Latin American Experience Special Topic Lecture

By Demelash Kebede Gejea, Ethiopia, Cohort 20

The special lecture held on 16 November 2018 at YNU, which was offered by Dr. Fausto Medina-Lopez who is a senior international advisor at Inter-American Development Bank, was very impressive and relevant to the respective countries of all the participant students. Dr. Fausto’s presentation was mainly focused on the growing tensions in globalization, growth and redistributive policies, equality as a development goal and brief overview of Latin American and Caribbean.

During the past 30 years globalization has reached all spheres of economic, business, development and daily life of every country on this globe. Despite the achievements gained by globalization, most developing countries continue to be more unequal regions in the world.

The other interesting part of the lecture was about the recent backlash in globalization in which the geopolitical shifts favor China and India rather than the USA and Europe. The presentation highlighted US versus China and India where the globalization backlash is clearly in the mind of those countries from the countries’ Economic Policy Network. Globalization has been good for the development and the trade has been crucial to the poverty reduction. The expansion of international trade has boosted demand for the labor-intensive products and labor-intensive tasks sourced from the developing countries. With labor being the main or even the only asset of the poor, this additional demand has created job opportunities and raised incomes, helping lift large numbers of people out of poverty in just a few decades.

As to my understanding, the core theme of this lecture is that the profound prevailing barriers that limit the equality, and the differences in capabilities among individuals and groups in Latin America and Caribbean are based on interactions between geopolitical shifts of globalization, economic assets, economic opportunities, political forces, and sociocultural processes. Throughout the presentation the lecture discussed inequalities with regard to variables such as education, health, safety, and access to services.



Frankly speaking, the contents of the lecture had a meaningful message to the current situation of developing countries where still limited access to socio-economic infrastructures prevails. As a PPT student the lecture gave me a chance to have an interest and a good understanding on how public policy and taxation impacts and manages the direction of effects of policy change to achieve the goal of inequality reduction. For instance, the public policies focus on investment in human capital, strength social protection and mobilization of revenue would result in bringing social inclusions such as effective service provision, fair taxation regulation and voice. These social inclusion policies in turn help to achieve the socio-economic goals such as creating prepared people (education), competitive market and new social contract which have the potential to redress inequality. The lecture boldly displayed that improving education access and outcomes at all levels is a paramount to reduce inequality.

Dr. Fausto Medina-Lopez explains during the Special Topic Lecture

The main rationale for government subsidies to social sectors is not to reduce income inequality, but to improve outcomes in areas such as education, health, housing, and employment. However, as noted by Dr. Fausto, there are intermediate steps between the decision to fund programs and the programs’ impact on outcomes such as composition of spending, translation of fund allocations to actual usage for service provision and to the consumption of the services by households. The overall pattern for most publicly provided services (including education, health and infrastructure) is for access to be expanded from the top of the distribution down. Where service coverage is initially high, marginal incidence is often quite progressive.

Most Latin American economies managed to grow during the 1990s. At the same time, in many of these economies the income distribution became more unequal. This combination led to ambiguous results in terms of aggregate welfare. The lecture also briefly explained the experience of LAC on how they registered some remarkable achievements in reducing inequality. LAC have been introduced key structural reforms that improved its macroeconomic fundamentals after experiencing slow growth and several financial crises in 1980’s (Lost Decade) and up to early 2005. Robust economic growth and redistributive policies supported by a commodity boom in 2002-2014 led to declining trends in poverty and inequality in LAC.

In sum, the lecture provides a good understanding of equality as key developmental goal, as a driver of sustainable and inclusive growth, which significantly contributes to innovation, productivity, environmental sustainability. Some of the most lessons learned from the lecture are that the policy makers and the governments of those countries strived to design and implement appropriate fiscal and social policies, including progressive tax and government transfers, taking into account such key factors determining the changes in participation in informal, less productive activities, to avoid permanent welfare dependency and recognized the need of interventions to improve quality of early childhood investments and closing gaps in skills as early as possible.


Student News

Congratulations to the Graduates of 2018!

On August 7, 2018, a total of eight students from six countries presented their theses and received their diplomas. These students graduated from two separate programs: five students from the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) and three students from the Indonesia Linkage Master Program (ILP).

Graduating PPT students with National Tax College (NTC) faculty and staffs

The students received congratulatory speeches from Mr. Koichi Omori, Senior Communications Officer at the World Bank, Professor Toshio Inoue, Research Department at National Tax College, Professor Hiroyasu Uemura and Professor Craig Parsons. The speeches celebrated the pertinence of and variety in the students’ research papers and spoke to the lifelong friendships that were made at YNU. Professor Keiji Nagai, Chair of the Department of Economics, encouraged the graduates to visit YNU the next time they return to Japan and to play an active role as a bridge between Japan and their home countries.

Graduating students with YNU faculty members

We hope to see you all again soon!

MPE - PPT NEWSLETTER

List of the Graduates and their Theses Titles

PPT Cohort 18: Joint Japan/World Bank Scholarship Graduates

Oina Benjamin Jagun from Nigeria, Fiscal Federalism and the Nigerian Economy

Kezang Namgyel from Bhutan, Innovating Domestic Options for Financing Free Healthcare Sustainability in Bhutan

Jie Wang from China, The Development of China’s Green Bond Market

Phillipa Tafadzwa Chimeura from Zimbabwe, An Evaluation of the Impact of the Currency Crisis on the Zimbabwe Economy: A Hyperinflation and Dollarization Study

Maria Nofunale Amakali from Namibia, Impacts of Tax Policy on Economic Growth in Namibia: Empirical Analysis

Indonesia Linkage Program (ILP) Graduates

Nani Zara, The Effect of Public Facilities on Land Values in Depok City, Indonesia: A Hedonic Pricing Study

Nia Dianti, Economic Impact of the Taman Pintar Science Center on the Local Economy in Yogyakarta

Raymond Rayendra Elven, Determinants of Growth in Indonesia: A Sub-National Study

Students presenting their theses at the Graduation Ceremony


Welcome to our New Students!

We are pleased to welcome five new World Bank Scholarship students from Ethiopia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Namibia to Yokohama National University. We are also delighted to welcome two new Indonesia Linkage Program students, who are part of the fourth cohort of the program since its return to YNU. This fall, we also welcomed a student from Ethiopia of the African Economics and Business Initiative (AEBI) supported by the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE). We hope you are enjoying your studies and life here in Japan!

Joint Japan/World Bank Scholarship Students

Ms. Su Hla Phyu, Staff Officer, Internal Revenue Department, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Myanmar Mr. Demelash Kebede Gejea, Branch Manager, Ethiopia Revenue and Customs Authority Ms. Nooraini Mat Ali, Revenue Executive (Tax Assessment), Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia Ms. Noor Dianna Salleh, Senior Revenue Executive, Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia Mr. Johannes Fudeni Shikwaya, Senior Taxation Officer, Inland Revenue Department, MOF, Namibia

Indonesian Linkage Program (ILP) Students

Mr. Joko Heratmo, Public Procurement Policy Drafter, National Public Procurement Agency of Republic of Indonesia Ms. Niki Barenda Sari, Trade Analyst (Staff), Ministry of Trade, Jakarta, Indonesia

African Economics and Business Initiative (AEBI) Student

Mr. Abrham Tessema Abate, Senior Economist, Environment and Climate Change Directorate, Ministry of Water Irrigation and Electricity, Ethiopia


Department News

Introducing the

2018-2019 PPT Committee Members Professor Craig Parsons, Director

Professor Keiichi Yamazaki

Professor Hiroyasu Uemura

Associate Professor Nozomu Muto

Associate Professor Xinyuan Zhang

Assistant Professor Keiko Ishiwata

Contact

MPE – PPT NEWSLETTER Publisher: MPE Office Graduate School of International Social Sciences Yokohama National University 79-3 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama JAPAN 240-8501 Director: Professor Craig Parsons Editor: MPE Office Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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