About

I am a Professor at the Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University. I have a BA from the University of Tokyo and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Taking a sabbatical leave, I have been staying at the ISEG in Lisbon from April 2021 to August 2022.

My Research

I am a theoretical economist with strong interests in applications. My research primarily focuses on Game Theory, Industrial Organization, and Market Design. I have published papers in top economics journals, including American Economic Review, AEJ: Microeconomics, Journal of Economic Theory, and RAND Journal of Economics, as well as leading journals in other fields such as AAMAS, Artificial Intelligence, and Scientific Reports. As an editor/co-author/supervisor, I have published over 30 books. I have also contributed around 250 articles to newspapers, economic magazines, and online media.

Teaching

Below is the link to the courses that I have taught. By going to each page you can download lecture slides, homeworks, solutions, etc.

• 2014 – Now at Osaka University and some other places.
• 2007 – 2013 at GRIPS.
• Lecture Slides (in English)
  • Introduction to Auction Theory – 2017
  • Introduction to Decision Making Theory – 2015
  • Theory of Repeated Games – 2015

Beyond Academia

• I am a co-founder of Economics Design Inc. that aims to utilize economics in business.
• My twitter account has over 33,000 followers; ranked 1st amoung Japanese economists who registered IDEAS.
• As a commentator/navigator, I have appeared on TV programs more than 500 times.
• As a speaker/panelist/moderator, I have attended over 100 lectures and seminars.
• As a member, I have participated in several government and public sector committees.
  • Cabinet Office, 2013 – 14, 2022 – present.
  • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2021 – present.
  • Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2008 – 09, 12 – 13, 16 – 17, 18 – 20, 22 – 23.
  • Ministry of the Environment, 2018 – 19, 2021 – 23.
  • Financial Services Agency, 2014 – 16.
  • Ministry of Finance, 2012 – ??.

What’s New?

• April 2024 – My paper “Folk Theorem under Bankruptcy” (co-authored with Carmen Bevia and Luis Corchon) got accepted by the Journal of Mathematical Economics. New!
• February 2023 – My paper “Moral Hazard and Subjective Evaluation” (co-authored with Shingo Ishiguro) got accepted by the Journal of Economic Theory.
• December 2022 – My paper “Inspecting Cartels over Time: With and without Leniency Program” (co-authored with Takako Fujiwara-Greve) received Graeme Woodbridge Prize (the best antitrust paper) from the APIOC 2022 conference.
• October 2022 – I just uploaded the following new paper on sequential voting (motivated by “Squid Game”) with Yuichiro Kamada (UC Berkeley).
  • Squid Voting Game: Rational Indecisiveness in Sequential Voting
• April 2022 – I will present the following paper at University of Glasgow (Microtheory Seminar) on April 12.
  • Squid Voting Game: Rational Indecisiveness in Sequential Voting’ (co-authored with Yuichiro Kamada (UC Berkeley))
• April 2022 – I will present the following paper at NOVA (Seminar on Economics of Education) on April 1.
  • Misalignment between Test Scores and Colleges’ Preferences: Chinese College Admission Reconsidered
• March 2022 – I will present the following paper at ISEG University of Lisbon (Lisbon Micro Gropup) on March 29.
  • Competitive Market Achieves the Greatest Happiness of the Minimum Number
• March 2022 – I just uploaded the following new paper on the cartel investigation and leniency program co-authored with Takako Fujiwara-Greve (Keio U.).
  • Inspecting Cartels over Time: with and without Leniency Program
• January 2022 – I substantially revised the following paper on repeated games co-authored with Takako Fujiwara-Greve (Keio U.).
  • On The Folk Theorem in Self-Sustained Communities
• November 2021 – The following paper on moral hazard problems co-authored with Shingo Ishiguro (at Osaka U.) becomes R&R at the Journal of Economic Theory.
  • Moral Hazard and Subjective Evaluation
• August 2021 – I completed two manuscripts on matching theory, both co-authored with Yuanju Fang (my Ph.D. student at Osaka U.). The SSRN link for each paper is below.
  1. Matching with Subjective and Objective Evaluations
  2. Misalignment between Test Scores and Colleges’ Preferences: Chinese College Admission Reconsidered

Conference Talks since 2022 (by me or co-authors)

• 2024
• TBA
• 2023
• August 28-September 1 — EEA-ESEM 2023, Barcelona, Spain.
• May 31-June 2 — The 12th UECE Lisbon Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2022
• December 9-11 — APIOC 2022, Sydney, Australia.　(by co-author)
• August 25-27 — EARIE 2022, Vienna, Austria.
• August 22-26 — EEA-ESEM 2022, Milano, Italy.
• August 8-10 — 2022 Asian Meeting of the Econometric Society in East and South-East Asia, Tokyo, Japan. (by co-author)
• July 8-9 — 15th Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Economic Journal, Azores, Portugal.
• June 22-24 — Asian Meeting of the Econometric Society in China 2022, Virtual, China. (by co-author)
• June 9-11 — The 12th Conference on Economic Design, Padova, Italy.
• May 28-29 — 2022 JEA Spring Meeting, Virtual, Japan. (by co-author)

Last update: March 2024