Japan project meets.

• Position: Program and Working Group Meetings - Conference notes

The NBER together with the Center on the Japanese Economy and Business, The Center for Advanced Research in Finance, and the Australia-Japan Research Centre held a project meeting on the Japanese economy in Tokyo on June 29 and 30, 2012. The organizers were: Jennifer Corbett, Australia-Japan Research Centre; Charles Horioka, NBER and Osaka University; Anil Kashyap, NBER and the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago; Kazuo Ueda, University of Tokyo; and David Weinstein, NBER and Columbia University. The following papers were discussed:

* Takeo Hoshi, University of California at San Diego and NBER, and Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo and NBER, "Defying Gravity: How Long Will Japanese Government Bond Prices Remain High?"

* Makoto Hazama and Iichiro Uesugi, Hitotsubashi University; Kaoru Hosono, Gakushuin University; Daisuke Miyakawa, Development Bank of Japan; Hirofumi Uchida, Kobe University; Arito Ono, Mizuho Research Institute; and Taisuke Uchino, Daito Bunka University, "Natural Disasters, Bank Lending, and Firm Investment"

* David B. Cashin, University of Michigan, and Takashi Unayama, Kobe University, "Measuring Intertemporal Substitution: Evidence from a Consumption Tax Rate Increase in Japan"

* Yasushi Hamao, University of Southern...