The Japan Program held the third annual Stanford Summer Juku on Japanese Political Economy from August 10-13. Over 40 scholars from various parts of the US and Japan participated in the conference, which took place at the Bechtel Conference Center at Encina Hall. The first two days focused on political science and the second day on economics. Distinctive features of the Summer Juku are the long times allotted to each paper to allow for two in-depth discussants and discussion among participants, as well as ample time for informal discussions and interactions among participants allowing for collaborations and expansion of the network of researchers on Japan in political science and economics. Particularly notable this year was a large number of cross-disciplinary and cross-national collaborations between scholars ranging from political science, economics, management, infomatics, and medicine.

The first day included four papers in political science. Amy Catalinac from New York University presented her paper, "Positioning Under Alternative Electoral Systems: Evidence from 7,497 Japanese Candidate Election Manifestos", with discussants Gary Cox (Stanford) and Harukata Takenaka (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan).

Daniel Smith (Harvard University) presented a paper co-authored by Yusaku Horiuchi (Dartmouth College) and Teppei Yamamoto (MIT) entitled "Identifying Multidimensional Policy Preferences of Voters in Representative Democracies: A Cojoint Field Experiment in Japan". The Discussants for the paper were Kay Shimizu (Columbia University) and Karen Jusko (Stanford).

Harukata Takenaka from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies presented his paper on “Changes in Power of Japanese Prime Minister: Still Away from a Westminster Model.” Tsuneo Akaha (Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey) and Kenji Kushida (Stanford University) were the discussants.

The fourth paper was “Territorial Issues and Support for the Prime Minister: A survey Experiment on Rally-‘Round-the Flag Effect in Japan” by Tetsuro Kobayashi (National Institute of Informatics, Japan) and Azusa Katagiri (Stanford), discussed by Tsuneo Akaha (Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey) and Daniel Smith (Harvard).

The second day focused on political economy and international relations. Gene Park (Loyola Marymount University, and former Shorenstein Fellow at APARC) presented his paper co-authored with Saori Katada (University of Southern California) and Giacomo Chiozza (Vanderbilt University) entitled “Policy ideas and monetary policy: The Bank of Japan's delayed break with the monetary orthodoxy". Discussants were Azusa Katagiri (Stanford) and Ayako Saiki (De Netherlandsche Bank).

The second paper of the day was "The Political Economy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Implications beyond Economics" by Hiroki Takeuchi (Southern Methodist University), discussed by Kay Shimizu (Columbia University) and Gene Park (Loyola Marymount University). 

After lunch, Llewelyn Hughes (Australian National University) presented "Lead Markets, Vertical Specialization, and Standards Competition in Electric Vehicles" with discussants Kenji Kushida (Stanford University) and Phillip Lipscy (Stanford University). The final session was "Renegotiating the World Order: Institutional Change in International Relations” which were select chapters from a book manuscript by Phillip Lipscy (Stanford University). The discussants were Amy Catalinac (New York University) and Llewelyn Hughes (Australian National University). A group dinner followed the second day.

The third day was the kick-off for economics papers, where we also saw cross-disciplinary collaborations with colleagues from the US and Japan.

Karen Eggleston (Stanford University) presented “Medical spending and health care utilization in Japan, 2010-2014: Projections from Future Elderly Model microsimulation”, which was co-authored by Hawre Jajal (Stanford University), Brian K. Chen (University of Southern California), Hideki Hashimoto (University of Tokyo), Toshiaki Iizuka (University of Tokyo), Lena Shoemaker (Stanford University), and Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford University). Yong Suk Lee (Stanford University) was the discussant.

The second paper, "The adverse effects of value-based purchasing in health care: dynamic quantile regression with endogeneity" by Galina Besstremyannaya (Visiting Scholar, Stanford University), was discussed by Jay Battacharya (Stanford University) and Takeo Hoshi (Stanford University).

The third paper was ""How Do Agricultural Markets Respond to Radiation Risk? Evidence from the 2011 Disaster in Japan" by Kayo Tajima (Rikkyo University), Masashi Yamamoto (University of Toyama), and Daisuke Ichinose (Rikkyo University). Discussants for the paper presented by Tajima were Satoshi Koibuchi (Chuo University and Visiting Scholar, Stanford University) and Yong Suk Lee (Stanford University).

The final paper for the third day was "Shocks and Shock Absorbers in Japanese Bonds and Banks During the Global Financial Crisis" by Hyonok Kim (Tokyo Keizai University), Yukihiro Yasuda (Hitotsubashi University), and James A. Wilcox (University of California, Berkeley). Discussants were Sabrina Howell (New York University) and Suparna Chakraborty (University of San Francisco).

The final day included two papers. The first was "Impact of Financial Intermediary's Information Production on Market Value of Firm: Case Studies on the DBJ's Liquidity Providing During the Financial Crisis and the Environmental Rating of Firm" by Hiroaki Suzuoka (Development Bank of Japan), Atsushi Motohashi (Development Bank of Japan), Shinya Nakamura (Development Bank of Japan), Tomoya Maruoka (Development Bank of Japan), and Takamasa Uesugi (Development Bank of Japan), presented by Takamasa Uesugi. Discussants were Jess Diamond (Hitotsubashi University) and Masami Imai (Wesleyan University). The final paper was "Selective Disclosure: The Case of Nikkei Preview Articles" by William N. Goetzmann (Yale School of Management), Yasushi Hamao (University of Southern California), and Hidenori Takahashi (Kobe University), presented by Yasushi Hamao. Eiichiro Kazumori (University of Buffalo) was the discussant.

After the completion of four days of Summer Juku, participants who had enough time before their flights held an “uchiage” (completion celebration) gathering—a tradition at the conclusion of the Summer Juku—at “The Patio” in downtown Palo Alto for further informal exchange over drinks and appetizers.

Most prescriptions for opioid painkillers are made by the broad swath of U.S. general practitioners, not by a limited group of specialists, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

This 2016 newsletter from the Stanford Department of Medicine is neither a yearbook of our recent accomplishments nor an annual report replete with facts and figures. It’s most like an anthology, giving readers glimpses of some recent progress we’ve made as we addressed Stanford Medicine’s tripartite mission: to teach our students and trainees, to do research, and to care for our patients. As we move toward the future, it’s important to reflect on the past, which created the culture of the Stanford Department of Medicine. The report also features Stanford Health Policy's Marcella Alsan's work about the impact of the tsetse fly on African economies.

In this video, Robert Harrington, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, gives an overview of the department's vision for the future, as well as highlighting the department's four strategic priorities.

See the multimedia report here.

When Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a stand on sugary drinks, banning large sizes to encourage moderation, his efforts were met with some applause—but also with jeers of derision, one New York Post headline dubbing him the “Soda Jerk.”

But with one third of the nation’s adult population considered obese, and alarming evidence about the health dangers and economic toll of obesity, research on ways to slim America’s collective waistband is sorely needed.  

Stepping back from the frenzy, faculty and students at Stanford Law School are digging into the issue to try to tease out the data and offer an unbiased empirical view. 

Last spring, Jordan Flanders, JD ’15, worked with Michelle Mello (BA ’93) and David Studdert, two members of Stanford Law’s health law faculty, on a research paper that analyzed legal, economic, and political issues raised by sugary drink laws in different countries, explaining five major categories of regulations (taxes, government procurement regulations, school-based regulations, advertising restrictions, and labeling rules) and parsing out the biggest challenges to implementing each. The result, “Searching for Public Health Law’s Sweet Spot: The Regulation of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages,” was published in July in PLoS Medicine, a highly regarded international medical journal, and went a long way to inform the debate. 

Stanford has taken the need for lawyers working in the critical area of health law seriously. Mello and Studdert, both professors of law with joint appointments with the medical school, were hired in the last two years. They joined Hank Greely, Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law, and Daniel Kessler, professor of law—increasing to four the number of faculty who are fully focused on health law. They are joined by half a dozen law faculty whose scholarship often touches on diverse subjects such as psychology, drug regulation, and environmental issues at this intersection of law.

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