Does the Nobel Peace Prize influence public opinion? In an article (Kikuta and Hanayama 2024), we show that when the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to women’s rights activists, such as Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad in 2018, it improves people’s perceptions about women’s rights groups across the world. Further analysis indicates that the effect is particularly large among people who hold traditional gender values, implying that the prize pressured conservative people to amend their attitudes. This suggests that the seemingly symbolic event—the Nobel Peace Prize—has real-world impacts, encouraging further studies on symbolic actions in international relations.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim assumed leadership as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia on November 24, 2022. My book, Anwar Ibrahim: Tenacious in Dissent, Hopeful in Power, investigates his record as a political dissident prior to his rise to power and evaluates his performance while in power.

This column is a summary of my recently published book which explores the under-theorized role of informal institutions in socio-political life. It proposes a novel, multi-dimensional classification of informal institutions, identifying four new types. The study further argues that formal institutions' exclusionary nature and resulting legitimacy deficits promote the emergence of informal institutions. Moreover, changes in formal institutional effectiveness or legitimacy, evolving socio-political cultures, and shifting power dynamics among actors are likely to drive informal institutional change. The study illustrates these ideas using four empirical cases from the Turkish case.

Accurate identification of individuals in poverty is crucial for designing effective antipoverty programs. Current poverty metrics rely on household-level consumption and the per capita approach, which assumes equal allocation among members. My recent study on eight West African countries recalibrated poverty measures to account for intrahousehold inequality and economies of scale. The analysis reveals two key findings. First, women and children experience significantly higher deprivation levels when intrahousehold inequality is considered. Second, the per capita expenditure approach misclassifies poverty status—underestimating child poverty while overestimating adult poverty. These results argue for integrating intrahousehold inequality into poverty metrics to improve accuracy and policy targeting.

Psychological burdens stemming from social stigma can significantly influence individuals’ economic behavior, particularly in health-related decisions such as the adoption of effective health products. This creates a challenge for policymakers seeking to increase the uptake of such products to improve public health outcomes. Subsidies alone may be insufficient to drive adoption when stigma is involved. Drawing on insights from both economics and public health literature, this study investigates whether coupling subsidies with participation in a group discussion session can enhance demand for sanitary pads in Nepal—a product affected by menstrual stigma. The findings indicate that combining modest subsidies with group discussions offers a more cost-effective strategy for promoting stigmatized health products.

The crisis of representative democracy has resulted in diminished trust in political parties and has also affected civil society organizations. While traditional trade unions and interest groups associated with political parties have weakened, social movements have become increasingly active in response to dissatisfaction among citizens. This study examines whether political distrust leads to trust or distrust in the student movement in Chile, a country that has recently experienced a crisis of representative democracy. Historically, the student movement has been aligned with political parties but it has regained momentum since the 2000s. The findings indicate that citizens who distrust political parties also distrust the student movement, perceiving it as part of the political elite. Conversely, those who oppose the government are more likely to express trust in the movement when students actively protest against government actions. These results underscore the challenges civil society organizations face in sustaining legitimacy in society and suggest that the adaptability of student movements to sociopolitical changes over time may help sustain their influence in the long run.

The installation of international bridges helps reduce transportation costs for goods and people across countries. This column examines the economic impacts of international bridges between Laos and Thailand, with a particular focus on the second of the four constructed bridges. On the Thai side, the second bridge led to increased income for agricultural households located nearby, especially those owning agricultural land. It also raised wages more significantly for formal workers than informal workers in the surrounding areas. On the Lao side, the bridge reduced the share of household expenditure spent on food, suggesting improved living standards for households located close to the bridge.

We explore differences in demand for skilled workers by private and state-owned enterprises in Vietnam, an economy in transition to market-driven growth. State-owned firms in Vietnam have privileged access to financial capital and face lower borrowing costs. Because of this, they choose technologies that are capital-intensive and demand more skilled labor, a complementary input, while private firms rely on low-technology methods and less-skilled labor. Because the private sector is by far the larger employer, a more level capital market playing field would likely raise aggregate demand for skills. Higher skills demand should in turn improve incentives to invest in education.

This column summarizes a study that offers a new perspective on how multinational firms adapt to significant tariff changes during an era of globalization. Specifically, it examines the impact of tariff shocks in destination markets on Korean firms’ outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from 2010 to 2018. The findings reveal an asymmetric impact of tariffs: significant decreases in tariffs lead multinational enterprises (MNEs) to reduce the number of subsidiaries, rather than reducing the average investment per subsidiary. In contrast, the effects of tariff increases on FDI are muted. The study also highlights that more productive firms are more likely to reduce the number of subsidiaries they maintain in developing countries when faced with substantial tariff decreases. These findings underscore how MNEs adapt to evolving trade policies, reallocating resources among their foreign subsidiaries.

The global labor market was significantly disrupted by COVID-19, and this study examines the impact on Thailand using Labor Force Survey data from 2018 to 2021. The workers most adversely affected are those (1) employed in high-risk sectors, (2) with lower levels of education, and (3) in younger age groups. The findings indicate that the unemployment rate is positively associated with sectoral risk levels and marital status, where married individuals and public sector employees are less likely to be unemployed. Additionally, parenthood has been linked to lower wages, with a more pronounced effect on women, suggesting a "she-cession" in the nation.

What are the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on routine healthcare services other than COVID-19 treatments? We investigated the surgical productivity change during and after the pandemic in Japan by examining the case of a large university hospital. Our studies revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the improvement of surgical productivity in the short term. However, the change in surgical productivity did not suffer from the state of emergency during the pandemic. Furthermore, no evidence indicated that the pandemic had any lasting effects on reducing surgical productivity during the post-pandemic period. Our implications for surgical practice and healthcare policy would be valuable lessons for future pandemics.

The Global South confronts numerous pressing issues that must be resolved to alleviate poverty. Such urgent problems include the often-overlooked challenges confronting people with disabilities. Unfortunately, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do not adequately represent these difficulties, probably because of the paucity of relevant data. Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO) has endeavored to create a data model to bridge this gap. This model will compile comprehensive information on people with disabilities and thus deliver essential data for policymakers.

As digitalization transforms global economic activities, some developing countries are witnessing an increase in homegrown entrepreneurs who leverage technology to address local needs and challenges. Although studies have emphasized the critical role of "returnee entrepreneurs" equipped with the technology and business models acquired abroad, local knowledge and connections are also essential for managing a business. Fujita (2024) uses Vietnam as a case study to show how global influences and local dynamics together impact the emergence of domestic players in digital services.