About

I am Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). I received my B.A. from the University of Tokyo and my Ph.D. from Princeton University.

My Research

I am a theoretical economist with a strong interest in applied economic problems. My research primarily focuses on game theory, market design, and industrial organization. I have published in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Theory, and the RAND Journal of Economics, as well as leading journals in other fields such as AAMAS, Artificial Intelligence, and Scientific Reports. I have contributed to over 30 books as an editor and co-author. I have also written around 300 articles for newspapers, economic magazines, and online media.

Teaching

Below is the link to the courses that I have taught. On each page, you can download lecture slides, homework, 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 34,000 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?

• October 2025 – I started working at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) as a professor on October 1st.
• September 2025 – I just uploaded the following new paper on market design with Yuichiro Kamada (UC Berkeley).
  • Robust Exchange
• 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

• 2025
• August 18-22 — 2025 World Congress of the Econometric Society, Seoul, South Korea.
• June 18-20 — The 14th UECE Lisbon Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2024
• December 7 — 15th East Asia Theory Conference, Hong Kong, China.
• October 17-18 — The Greater Bay Area Market Design Workshop 2024, Macau, China.
• August 26-30 — EEA-ESEM 2024, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
• August 2-4 — 2024 Asia Meeting of the Econometric Society, East & Southeast Asia, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• June 5-7 — The 13th UECE Lisbon Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal.
• May 24-25, 2024 Experiment and Behavior Symposium for Young Scholars, Dalian, China.
• 2023
• August 28-September 1 — EEA-ESEM 2023, Barcelona, Spain.
• May 31-June 2 — The 12th UECE Lisbon Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2022
• August 25-27 — EARIE 2022, Vienna, Austria.
• August 22-26 — EEA-ESEM 2022, Milano, Italy.
• July 8-9 — 15th Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Economic Journal, Azores, Portugal.
• June 9-11 — The 12th Conference on Economic Design, Padova, Italy.

Last update: March 2026