This paper surveys the rapidly growing literature of macroeconomic models analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, I summarize new frameworks integrating the epidemiological （SIR） models and macroeconomics. This survey （i） discusses why the traditional macroeconomic framework fails to capture the pandemic; （ii） provides a concept for policy evaluation called pandemic possibility frontier; （iii） reviews epidemiological models with economic costs; （iv） summarizes the models incorporating individual optimizations and general equilibrium; （v） presents quantitative applications to Japanʼs coronavirus-related state of emergency.

View full abstract

I explain the structure and decision-making process of the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (CSIMC). The CSIMC determines the price of each medical service that the Japanese medical insurance system covers. The CSIMC has many subcommittees to investigate and examine various aspects of the medical insurance system. Although the CSIMC makes the final decision in its jurisdiction, it delegates some of its responsibilities to these subcommittees. This council comprises three groups of members: (1) the representatives of health insurance associations, (2) the representatives of medical service providers, and (3) the representatives of the public interest from universities. Discussions on this council are open to audiences and are sporadically confrontational. Every 2 years this council discusses and revises the medical pricing system following a predetermined schedule. In April of the previous year, the council starts to discuss the problems of the present situation and set agendas to reform the pricing system. In September, the council focuses on important agendas and discusses solutions to problems. In the next year, the council determines the revised plan for the medical pricing system and reports it to the Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare. On the council, the members play three different games. The first is the game of keeping its autonomy. In this game, members belonging to the first and second groups confront the bureau of the Ministry to resist external requests to change the system. The second is a game in which the members of the first and second groups confront considerations of the financial impact of the revised plan. The first group resists plans to expand medical insurance coverage, which will deteriorate the financial prospects of their insurance system. The third is a game in which the interests of the second group contradict and each member seeks to expand the allocation of their services. In its perspective, this council will expand its function to accommodate the changing environment of medical insurance in Japan.

View full abstract

An increasing prevalence of domestic violence (DV), or more specifically intimate partner violence in this article, has become a serious threat to social sustainability because it is a challenge for policymakers to choose effective countermeasures under limited resources. Cost estimation provides a measure of evidence-informed policymaking that potentially improves transparency and accountability. However, the cost estimation of DV is methodologically understudied, especially in Japan. This scoping review focuses on medical costs of DV and reviews models for estimating the economic burden of the medical costs attributable to DV. To achieve this purpose, I referred to existing reports published by governments and public institutions abroad, such as the CDC and NIJ reports in the U.S., the report by National Statistics in the U.K., and the report by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. I found that there are three basic approaches to medical cost estimation used in these reports̶the bottom-up, proportion, and adjusted incremental cost approaches. The bottomup approach sums the costs per utilization or person. The proportion approach calculates the population attributable fraction (PAF) from the relative risk and applies the proportion to the total medical cost. The adjusted incremental cost approach statistically controls confounders to estimate net incremental costs of DV. I argue that the limitation of the current reports based on each approach is that they insufficiently describe the estimation methods and have technical flaws in the estimation models. Given the current limitations identified above, in this scoping review, I address the pros/cons and caveats in the use of each approach employed to estimate the medical cost of DV.

View full abstract