Musashi University

About: Musashi University is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supply chain & Frugivore. The organization has 125 authors who have published 328 publications receiving 3844 citations.

Consumer Response to Critical Peak Pricing of Electricity and Conservation Requests

Abstract: Using data from a series of field experiments for the fiscal years 2012–13, this chapter investigates consumers’ electricity use in response to critical peak pricing (CPP) and conservation requests (CRs). CPP stimulates consumers’ extrinsic motivation to conserve energy by applying higher prices to electricity usage during peak periods. This is a plausible approach since electricity pricing affects the monetary reward of conservation and higher prices create conservation that is more beneficial. By asking households to voluntarily reduce consumption during peak periods, CRs stimulate intrinsic motivations, such as altruism and the “warm glow,” which enhance consumers’ utility through energy conservation. The empirical results based on a linear approximate almost ideal demand system imply that both CPP and CRs contributed to reducing electricity usage during peak periods. In absolute terms, the elasticity of the peak electricity demand with respect to the electricity price at the sample average ranged from 0.157 to 0.389. These estimates of price elasticity exceeded those found in previous studies on CPP. CRs reduced electricity demand during peak hours by 4.0–5.1 %. These peak-reducing estimates of CRs were lower than the effects of public appeals to conserve energy in the United States.

Why Do Managers Adopt Japan-Specific Off-Auction Repurchases?

Abstract: This study discusses stock market share repurchase with prior announcement from the viewpoint of a firm management between February 2010 and December 2013 We find that of the about 781 share repurchases for firms listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), lower liquidity firms are likely to use the Tokyo Stock Exchange Trading NeTwork System for Off-Auction Own Share Repurchase Trading (ToSTNeT-3) This result supports a certainty and immediacy hypothesis Furthermore, if we focus on the motivations of both the share seller and the buyer, we also find evidence that management chooses ToSTNeT-3 by accepting requests from block-holders (mainly general corporations other than financial institutions)