In recent years, the Yezo deer populations in Hokkaido have doubled from the targeted manageable number.　Overpopulation has resulted in damage to agricultural crops and volunteer plants.　Traffic accidents have also increased.　These issues are serious consequences for society and the natural environment.　A fundamental causal factor is the extermination of the Hokkaido wolf.　Social factors that contribute are the lack of monetary benefits from deer hunting and the older age of hunters.　To encourage newcomers, a new system under which hunting has a monetary incentive is needed.　However, the effects of Yezo deer culls have not been quantified, especially with respect to mitigation of the economic losses from damage to volunteer plants.

The present study used the Contingent Valuation Method （CVM） to quantify economic losses caused by Yezo deer.　The economic losses from Yezo deer grazing on volunteer plants were estimated at approximately 44.7 hundred million yen per year.　Social losses （sum of crop damage, volunteer plant damage and traffic accidents） caused by Yezo deer were estimated at approximately 115.3 hundred million yen per year.　Furthermore, social losses per Yezo deer were estimated at approximately 19,546 yen per year.　Based on these results, a new system for mitigation is proposed for these social and natural environmental issues in Hokkaido.

The authors also propose a methodology that integrates a cluster analysis method and a test of independence to analyze how personal attributes influence willingness to pay （WTP）.　To verify the effectiveness of the methodology, an experiment identified two personal attributes having a significant influence on WTP:1） being strongly agreeable to culls of excessive Yezo deer, and 2） considerable concern for environmental issues.　The reliability of the awareness survey was quantitatively verified through these findings.　

JEL Classification: Q51, Q56

Agricultural public infrastructure, such as irrigation and drainage facilities, farm roads and consolidated farmlands, is expected to increase gross domestic product （GDP） via improvement of agriculture production.　However, most agricultural public infrastructures are aging and deteriorating due to a lack of investment budgets for renewal projects.　This study aims to evaluate future influences of deteriorated agricultural public infrastructure by using the dynamic-spatial computable-general-equilibrium （CGE） model and the prediction method of capital stocks.

Features of this study include, （i） future situation of agricultural public infrastructure based on the method employed in the Cabinet Office of Japan （2012） with the first official documents on Japanese public capital stocks, （ii） the dynamic spatial CGE model used with consideration of endogenous productivity growth by agricultural public facilities, and （iii） needed public investment to keep public capital stocks at peak levels and the payment of certain sectors or all industries to secure funds for investments without an increase in public debts in Japan.

The simulation results demonstrate discord between famer and national benefits caused by renovation of agricultural public infrastructures.　Furthermore, the benefit-cost ratio for renovation of agricultural public infrastructures became lower than expected in local regions because of leakage effects to urban regions when renovation projects were conducted in all regions at the same time.　Urban regions experienced the opposite tendency.

Based on the above prediction of future situations, several policy implications for public investments can be raised.　That is, maintaining public capital stocks by any counter measures is highly needed for sustainable growth of the economy.　Different policies on budget sources for such measures and stock management measures can result in different economic effects, so policy simulation with a CGE model is helpful for decision makers to consider comprehensive effects of policies.

JEL Classification: D58, H43, H54, O11, O13, O18, Q15, R15

In this paper we discuss the Sun Corridor concept and then restate the concept in the context of a transborder economic development. The Morrison Institute at Arizona State University coined the term Sun Corridor to describe developments in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson and Nogales and the interstitial spaces between them. Applying the Morrison Institute’s methodology to the transborder mega-region we identify and describe the sub-regions, realms and nodes together with their internal and external challenges. In evaluating the benefits of the transborder Sun Corridor as a model for binational economic development we draw attention to legacies and lessons of an earlier model of binational crossborder collaboration in economic development known as the Arizona-Sonora Region. Arizona and Sonora have had a long tradition of functional and formal ties, and were among the first border states to strategize crossborder economic development within the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ) framework in the early 1990s.

JEL Classification: O2, F6, Z

In recent years empirical studies on the New Economic Geography （NEG） model have been extensively implemented, while the NEG model has mainly advanced in theoretical extension.　A typical example of the empirical application of NEG is to estimate regional market potentials.

Redding and Venables proposed two types of regional market potential in an NEG model.　One being “Market Access” derived from market demand and the other “Supply Access” derived from supply capacity.　They estimated the trade equation with regional dummy variables.　Using the estimated results, they measured two regional market potentials.

In this study, we estimated the elasticity of substitution by industry without regional dummy variables in the trade equation.　The estimation of the elasticity of substitution by industry was made possible using data of 47 prefectural inter-regional input-output tables.　We found the degree of commodity differentials for industrial characteristics using the estimated results of the elasticity of substitution.　For example, the food and tobacco manufacturing industries have low differentials in commodity production, but the automobile industry has a high degree of differentials.

Using the estimated results of elasticity of substitution, we calculated regional market potentials by industry.　The elasticity of substitution affects the regional market potentials.　In other words, the degree of commodity differentials affects the regional market potentials.

Finally, we analyzed the relationships between wages and regional market potentials and found that the regional market potentials substantially affect regional wage variations.　Inter-regional transportation access improvements also have been found to affect wages through changes in regional market potentials.

JEL Classification: F12, R12

Based on the new economic geography （NEG） theory, we analyzed the determinants of location choice for Japanese frozen food industry investments in East Asia, especially in 2000s.　And we focused on effects of domestic market potential in the host country.　In this paper, we divided domestic market potential into two types.　First is the purchasing power such as PPP and population, and on the other hand, the purchasing infrastructure such as penetration rate of refrigerator.　In the same way, we considered about consumption of frozen food in Japan.　As a result of the conditional logistic model, we found that PPP, population and penetration rate of refrigerator affect the location choice for Japanese frozen food company, as well as traditional cost reduction factors such as wages, domestic market potential and promotion policies in the host country.　Also, consumption of frozen food in Japan encourage Japanese FDI in East Asia.

JEL Classification: F23, R11, R30

The processes of cooperation within the Triple Helix Framework are analyzed for two universities (VU University, Amsterdam and Hokkaido University (HU));starting with a description of the regions, the universities, and the institutional arrangements to promote interaction between different sectors. Based on interviews with different stakeholders, a list of items playing key roles was extracted and used to prepare a questionnaire. This was given to researchers at both universities in order to obtain managerial implications.

Our survey revealed that researchers at VU valued the collaborative leadership taken by the Amsterdam Economic Board (AEB) as a facilitator and the development of the new campus. On the other hand, researchers at HU were more focused on the need for a shared vision to create collaborative projects between different sectors. Our survey suggests that the university itself, HU, may play a more concrete role in the three sectors with its creative knowledge and coordination capabilities.

JEL Classification:R58, R50, R11

The number of craft breweries in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades. In 1980 there were 8;by 2013 there were over 2,800. This growth reflects dissatisfaction, on the part of many Americans, with the bland and homogeneous beer that is brewed by the country’s two largest breweries —Anheuser Busch and Miller Coors. Consumers are demanding beer that exhibits greater variety in terms of flavor, style and strength. Despite this growth few studies have attempted to explain the spatial distribution. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that are driving inter-metropolitan differences in the number of craft breweries. Using data from 361 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) we built a series of regression models that use the number of craft breweries as a dependent variable. Our findings show that the primary driver of inter-metropolitan variation in craft breweries is the proportion of the population aged between 25 and 44. Other metropolitan characteristics that attract craft breweries are a creative population, the existence of farmers markets, total population size, educational levels and a MSA share of non-hispanic whites. One variable, income, was found to be negatively correlated with the number of craft breweries.

JEL Classification: J11, L66, O14, O18

A direct payment policy aimed for the conservation of farmlands in hilly and mountainous areas has been implemented since 2000 in Japan.　Community agreements entered into under the policy that encourage farmland conservation have faced various issues such as aging and decreasing number of farmers.　Improvement of community agreements to meet policy goals is needed.

In this study, we examined the regional factors affecting the propensity toward collective conservation of farmlands in community agreements in hilly and mountainous areas.

Using data taken from community agreements entered under a direct payment policy in hilly and mountainous areas in Shimane Prefecture and data taken from the Census of Agriculture and Forestry, we quantitatively investigated the hypothesis that the propensity toward collective conservation of farmlands and agriculture in community agreements depends on regional management and geographical factors.

Four main findings were obtained.　First, the promotion of collective conservation was affected by regional management factors such as the participation of non-farmers, allocation of subsidies, sharing of agricultural machines, and regional size of the community agreements.　In addition, geographical factors such as the number of farm household members and area of farm management contributed to this promotion.　Second, self-improvement of the agricultural infrastructure was affected by the allocation of subsidies and geographical factors such as the slope angle of farmlands, enclave, and size of farm management.　Third, the promotion of value-added agriculture was affected by the participation of corporations with integration of agreements into a single agreement and geographical factors such as location and rate of engagement of farmers practicing conservation friendly agriculture.　Fourth, the promotion of agricultural product processing was affected by integrating agreements into a single agreement, participation of non-farmers, allocation of subsidies, sharing of agricultural machines, and regional size of the community agreement.

These findings indicate it is important to consider community management systems based on social and geographical conditions in hilly and mountainous areas.

JEL Classification: Q18, Q24, Q28