人的災害の1つである経済危機は，ローカルな範囲での相互扶助や保険を困難にする集計的ショックとしての性格を有する．本稿では，集計的ショックとして戦前日本の農村経済に甚大な影響を及ぼした昭和恐慌をとりあげ，昭和恐慌が農家家計の生産性に及ぼした影響を定量的に検討した．まず，帝国農会の10カ年農家家計パネルデータを用いて，対象期間（1924～1933年）における農家家計のMalmquist生産性を計測するとともに，技術変化と効率性変化へと分解し，その推移を検討した．次に，集計的ショックに対して，いかなる農家家計が脆弱であったかを検討した．その結果，得られた主な結果は次のとおりである．第1に，恐慌発生後の1930年から1931年にかけて，Malmquist生産性は，他の期間にはみられない急激な低下が生じていたことがわかった．また，こうした生産性低下の要因は，生産フロンティアの後退による一時的な技術水準の低下と投入要素の配分効率の低下にあることがわかった．第2に，昭和恐慌による集計的ショックに対する脆弱性には地域性があることや，中・上層農経営の集計的ショックに対する強靱性が検出された．こうした経営規模層間の脆弱性の違いが，恐慌後の経営規模階層変動の契機として作用した可能性を指摘した．以上の知見は，ミクロ的・定量的観点から戦前日本の農家行動の動態に光を当てている．

食品表示は，供給者と需要者の間の情報非対称性を軽減する有力な社会的装置である．本稿では，食品表示内容と消費者行動についての実証的研究について，英語論文を中心に表示対象と分析手法の2つの観点からレビューを行った．関連研究は膨大であり，採用されているアプローチ方法にも様々なものがある．そこでレビューに際しては論文データベースを利用し，主要な関連論文とそれらに対する被引用数を手掛かりに，研究対象や適用される方法論に対する学術的関心の変化を定量的に把握することを試みた．複雑な様相を呈する本研究課題を深耕するためには，研究対象の特徴に応じて，適切な分析手法を組み合わせて分析する姿勢が重要であるといえるだろう．

The total factor productivity (TFP) of soybean production in Japan was measured by the Tornqvist index. The TFP value increased gradually for the last 40 years, while soybean yield per unit area continued to decrease. The yield decreases could possibly be attributed to observed drastic decreases in labor input per unit area with increases in scale of production. The results indicated that 1) soybean farmers adopted scale-expanding, labor-saving production techniques and 2) yield-improving techniques adopted by the farmers did not have enough effects in compensating for the yield decreases. Further analyses are required to clarify and confirm these hypotheses.

Large-scale rice farms are continuing to expand in scale in Japan. However, the increase in the number and extent of these cultivated areas is considered to be problematic. Given its nature, the JA Investment Agriculture Production Corporation, in particular, has difficulty with declining investment in areas that are considered to be less-favorable for rice cultivation. A number of large-scale farms have emerged that have succeeded in overcoming such circumstances by implementing a variety of mechanisms to resolve problems arising from expanding operations, in areas that are now operating in the black.

The objective of this study is to elicit consumers' preferences and firms' pricing behavior for beers and beer-flavored beverages in Japan. To estimate price elasticities and markups for brands of the beverages, the Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (BLP) model of product differentiation and consumer preference heterogeneity was applied to data from 34 brands of beers and beer-flavored beverages purchased in major retail stores in Japan from April 2008 to March 2014. The estimation results indicated that products in the same category were likely to be substitutes, brands categorized as new genre beer produced by each company were close substitutes, and increase in prices of regular beer brands lead to growth in the consumption of new genre beers and beer-flavored beverages. Price-cost margins were found to be higher in brands of beer and low-malt beer compared to those of new genre beer and beer-flavored beverages. The market power of each producer reflected its strategy for the production share for each beer category.

In Japan, the continuous reduction in family size during the post-war period has caused a decline in the efficiency of domestic production in households. The proportion of expenditure on foodstuffs for homemade meals in total food expenses has decreased. The objective of this study is to attract attention to whether the family size effects by age-group have contributed to the decline. To investigate these empirical facts, LA/AIDS was estimated by using the age group of household head data.

This study aims to clarify dietary awareness and eating behavior characteristics peculiar to single mothers. We conducted a quantitative analysis, using individual data from several large sample surveys. Our statistical analysis indicates that, irrespective of household income levels, single mothers are more likely to skip meals and less likely to have a nutritionally-balanced diet, pay attention to food safety, or spend time on housework, compared to two-parent households. This is likely to be explained by the fact that single mothers tend to work longer hours to support their families and have to do many things on their own.

This paper discusses wine-tourism visitors' attitudes toward local tourism resources through a case study in Yamanashi, Japan. About 40% of visitors on the wine tour are categorized as repeat visitors and 25% of the visitors have experienced three or more visits. Repeat visitors seem to be a key segment and clarifying repeaters' attitudes would contribute to understand tourists' demand on the wine-tourism business. We focus on how business characteristics (food, varieties of wine, locality of ingredient grape, wine tasting and related events) are evaluated by repeat visitors. Data were collected by a questionnaire survey for the visitors visiting the site. The survey was conducted on November 9 and 10, 2013 and 173 questionnaires were received in total. In the questionnaire, the paired comparison method was applied to calculate relative weights to analyse and discuss what kind of factors are more essential for visitors when visitors select the wine-tourism site in Yamanashi. Findings from the analysis are as follows. It would be critical issue to introduce a policy program supporting the strengthening of the wine-tourism business environment. In particular, a policy supporting development of local tourism resources related to local food and agriculture may be an important matter to discuss. The policy program for supporting wine-tourism operators should be created from the view of repeat visitors' social characteristics and attitudes toward local resources.

This paper aims to verify whether Japan's commitments in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement are consistent with the Liberal Democratic Party's manifesto and the Diet resolutions. The former is defined as a request to exempt any agricultural product from tariff elimination, while the latter to exempt all five sensitive agricultural products from any commitment. The paper concludes from an analysis of Japan's tariff schedule that, whereas the manifesto is observed, the resolutions are not observed since the share of the five agricultural products exempted from any commitment is 26 and zero percent, respectively, based on a narrow and broad tariff classification.