Chiaki Hara's Home Page

Always under construction. Most, if not all, linked files are in the PDF format.

Contents of this Page

  1. Important Notices
  2. Contact Addresses
  3. Lecture Materials
  4. Latest Versions of Working Papers
  5. Published but Rarely Circulated Papers
  6. Books

Important Notices

  1. I do not take any student as a research fellow ("kenkyu-sei" in Japanese) of this institute unless I know him/her in person. Please do not email or ring me to make an inquiry on this matter. In any case, I shall not respond to any such message.
  2. I am always looking for research assistants. The details can be found here.

Contact Addresses

  1. Postal Mail:
    Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University
    Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku
    Kyoto 606-8501 Japan
  2. Telephone: +81 (0)75 753 7140 (New secretary) 7102 (Institute)
  3. Fax: +81 (0)75 753 7148
  4. Email: hara(at)kier(dot)kyoto-u(dot)ac(dot)jp
    where (at) should be replaced by @ and (dot) should be replaced by . . I am sorry for inconvenience but this is to avoid spam mails.

Lecture Materials

General Equilibrium Theory (from October 2009 to January 2010)

  1. Course Outline
  2. Lecture Note by Mr Hiroki Nishimura
  3. Slides 1
  4. Supplementary Note on Debreu's Theorem

Advanced Microeconomics (from April 2009 to July 2009)

  1. Course Outline (in Japanese)
  2. Homework 1 (in Japanese)
  3. Answers to Homework 1 by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  4. Homework 2 (in Japanese)
  5. Answers to Homework 2 by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  6. Corrections to Homework 2 (in Japanese)
  7. Homework 3 (in Japanese)
  8. Answers to Homework 3 by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  9. Homework 4 (in Japanese)
  10. Corrections to Homework 4 (in Japanese)
  11. Answers to Homework 4 by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  12. Homework 5 (in Japanese)
  13. Answers to Homework 5 by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  14. Problem Set on Expected Utility (in Japanese)
  15. Answers to the Problem Set on Expected Utility by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  16. Midterm Exam (in Japanese)
  17. Answers to the Midterm Exam by Mr Yujiro Kawasaki (in Japanese)
  18. Comments on the Midterm Exam (in Japanese)
  19. Lecture Note (Uploaded on 29 May 2009)

Economics and Mathematical Finance (from April 2009 to July 2009)

  1. Course Outline (in Japanese)
  2. Slides for the lecture on 28 April (in Japanese)
  3. Slides for the lecture on 12 May (in Japanese)

General Equilibrium Analysis of Financial Markets (from October 2008 to January 2009)

  1. Course Outline (in Japanese)
  2. Lecture Note prepared by Ms Mamiko Terasaki (in Japanese)

Mathematics for Economics (from April 2008 to July 2008)

  1. Lecture Note (in Japanese) prepared by Mr Hiroaki Sakamoto and revised by Mr Ryosuke Ishii and Yusuke Inami, uploaded on 30 September, 2008.

Mathematical Economics B (from October 2007 to January 2008)

  1. Course Outline (in Japanese)

Latest Versions of Working Papers

  1. Effects of Background Risks on Cautiousness with an Application to a Portfolio Choice Problem (Version: November 26, 2009)
    This is a newer version than the
    SSRN Paper Series No. 1144006.
    This is a newer version than the KIER Discussion Paper Series No. 654.
    This is a newer version than the Dicussion Paper Series No. 368 of Project on Intergenerational Equity and Center for Intergenerational Studies of the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University.
    Abstract: We provide necessary and sufficient conditions on an individual's expected utility function under which any zero-mean idiosyncratic risk increases cautiousness (the derivative of the reciprocal of the absolute risk aversion), which is the key determinant for this individual's demand for options and portfolio insurance.
    JEL Classification Codes: D51, D58, D81, G11, G12, G13.
    Keywords: Risk aversion, risk tolerance, cautiousness, portfolio insurance, idiosyncratic risks, background risks, incomplete markets.

  2. Effectively Complete Asset Markets with Multiple Goods and over Multiple Periods (Version: November 12, 2009)
    This is the same version the
    KIER Discussion Paper Series No. 685.
    Abstract: Following LeRoy and Werner (2001), we propose a definition of effectively complete asset markets in a model with multiple goods and multiple periods, and establish the first and second welfare theorems in such markets. As applications of the first welfare theorem, we derive the sunspot irrelevance theorem of Mas-Colell (1992), and extend the no-retrade theorem of Judd, Kubler, and Schmedders (2003) and Kubler and Schmedders (2003) to the case where the asset prices need not be time-invariant Markov processes.
    JEL Classification Codes: D51, D52, D53, D61, D91, G11, G12.
    Keywords: Complete markets; effectively complete markets; welfare theorems; sunspot; Markov environment.

  3. Pareto Improvement and Agenda Control of Sequential Financial Innovations (Version: February 6, 2009)
    Abstract: In a model of an exchange economy under uncertainty with two periods, one physical good, and finitely many states of the world, we show that for every (complete or incomplete) market span there exists a sequence of securities such that as they are introduced into markets one by one, the prices of any security is not affected by the subsequent introduction of newer securities and they together generate the given market span. In the absence of pecuniary externalities, this result implies that every stage of such sequential financial innovations is Pareto-improving. Implications of this result on financial innovations via an unanimous voting rule are also explored.
    JEL Classification Codes: C72, C73, D51, D52, D61, G11.
    Keywords: Security markets, general equilibrium theory with incomplete financial markets, financial innovation, Pareto improvement, agenda control, Nash equilibrium, subgame perfect equilibrium, Markov perfect equilibrium.

  4. Boundary Behavior of Excess Demand Functions without the Strong Monotonicity Assumption (Version: April 5, 2004)
    Abstract: We give a theorem on the existence of an equilibrium price vector for an excess demand correspondence, which may have been derived from consumers with non-monotone preference relations.

Published but Rarely Circulated Papers

The following papers have been published in journals and proceedings which are rarely circulated outside Japan. Their manuscripts are posted below.
  1. Report on Economic Theory of Desirable Futures Contracts, Sakimono Torihiki Kenkyu (Futures Trading Research) vol. 10, no.1-14 (December 2006), pp. 119-131 (in Japanese).
    Abstract: This paper surveys recent results on the general equilibrium theory of pecuniary externalities that arise when new securities become available for trade in incomplete financial markets.

  2. Unlinked Allocations in an Exchange Economy with One Good and One Bad, published in Kyokyuroku (Workshop Proceeding) no. 1337 (August 2003), pp. 70-80, Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University.
    Abstract: We consider an exchange economy with two commodities, of which one is a good, which generates utility to all consumers, and the other is a bad, which causes disutility to all consumers. We look into "unlinked" allocations, that is, allocations at which almost every consumer consumes either the good or the bad, but not both, and ask under what conditions there exist unlinked and individually rational allocations and also unlinked and envy-free allocations. We also examine efficient and equilibrium allocations, taking special care of the cases where the so called minimum condition is violated.

  3. Theory of Corporate Debt Issues under Asymmetric Information: Informativeness of Security Prices of Linear Rational Expectations Equilibrium in Incomplete Markets, published in Yucho Shikin Kenkyu (Postal Saving Research) vol. 12 (September 2003), pp. 1-31 (in Japanese).
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the informativeness of security prices of linear rational expectations equilibrium. In particular, it characterizes the information conveyed by equilibrium prices in terms of the trading volumes of the informed trader. The model of the paper deserves special attention in two respects. First, the dimensions of risk factors affecting security payoffs, initial endowments, and noisy signals are completely arbitrary. Second, there is a limited participation constraint, in the sense that some uninformed traders can access some but not all of security markets.

Books

  1. Trends in Modern Economics 2006, edited by Yasushi Iwamoto, Makoto Ohta, Koichi Futagami, and Akihiko Matsui, Toyo Keizai Shimpo Sha, 2006 (in Japanese).
    My contribution is "Chapter 4: Heterogeneous risk attitudes in a continuous-time model" on pp. 91-134.
    The details of the book can be found at its web site.
  2. Dictionary of Economics, edited by Takamitsu Sawa, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc, 2006 (in Japanese).
    My contribution is some entries on microeconomics.
    The details can be found at its web site.
  3. Introduction to Microeconomics, with Shin-Ichi Takekuma, Koichi Kaneko, Tadanobu Tanno, Hiroshi Ogawa, and Shinji Yamashige, Diamond Inc, 2005 (in Japanese).
    My contribution is "Chapter 5: Analysis of security markets" on pp. 160-215.
    The table of contents can be obtained from its web site.
  4. Solution Manual to Mas-Colell, Whinston, and Green's 'Microeconomic Theory', with Steve Tadelis and Ilya Segal, Oxford University Press, 1997.
    My contribution is for Parts 1 and 4.
    I have no authority to distribute this manual. Neither do I have any spare copy. If you are a course instructor, please contact Oxford University Press through their web site. Please do not direct any inquiry about its availability to me. Any comments on the contents of the manual are, however, more than welcome.