Fiscal 2014 - Invitation Reports
- Laurence Kranich (University at Albany)
- Sophie Mitra (Fordham University)
- Francesco Chiesa (University of Pavia)
- Joanna Coast (University of Birmingham)
- J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law School)
Laurence Kranich
Institution: University at Albany
Period of stay: March 14th-21st, 2015
What was your research topic while you stayed in Japan?
Prosocial behavior and endogenous sentiments.
In which direction(s) do you plan to carry out your research in the future?
This is a multifaceted project. Generally, the question is whether agents who observe or are affected by prosocial behavior are more likely to engage in such behavior themselves, and similarly for anti-social behavior. My immediate application is to charitable giving.
What did you think about our program to foster international research collaboration?
I overlapped with eight foreign visiting scholars during my brief stay at the IER.
This is an incredible level of activity! Furthermore, judging from the seminar schedule and the long list of visitors, my experience was not atypical. Assuming the other scholars enjoyed their visits as much as I did mine, I would say your program is highly successful.
Can you share with us any interesting episode you had in Japan, if any?
My visit coincided with graduation weekend. The event itself was a pageantry of color, and I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed it.
Sophie Mitra
Institution: Fordham University
Period of stay: March 2015
What was your research topic while you stayed in Japan?
I worked on a paper titled "Measuring Disability and Wellbeing using the Capability Approach." This paper reviews ways whereby disability can be conceptualized and operationalized using the Capability Approach and derives implications for data collection.
In which direction(s) do you plan to carry out your research in the future?
I am currently working on a book that investigates the dynamic links between disability and wellbeing. It is conceptually grounded in the capability approach. Its contribution is an empirical one: it shows, in the context of developing countries, how the onset of a disability, or a recovery, can lead to changes in wellbeing, including employment and material wellbeing. The objective is to inform disability policy and poverty reduction strategies in developing countries.
What did you think about our program to foster international research collaboration?
I was very impressed by your program. It is extremely well organized so I was able to use my time there very efficiently by focusing on my research and on networking with other scholars. I met a number of leading scholars (Hitotsubashi and guest scholars). We had different opportunities (e.g., seminars, lunch, dinner, tea!) for stimulating and fruitful conversations about our respective research projects. It seems to me that your program is conceived and implemented in a way that it will foster collaborations across borders, and may be also across disciplines.
Can you share with us any interesting episode you had in Japan, if any?
I had many interesting episodes while in Japan, so I am not sure where to start!
How did you encounter the capability approach? What brought you to pursue your research using the capability approach? What do you think are its advantages, compared with the other approaches?
I encountered the capability approach while studying development economics. I went back to it when I started doing research on disability and poverty.
It now provides a framework for justice that guides all aspects of my work: research as well as teaching and service activities. In my research, it offers a powerful yet flexible framework that can help understand very complex issues, such as the links between disability and wellbeing.
Francesco Chiesa
Institution: University of Pavia
Period of stay: March 2015
I was a visiting scholar at Hitotsubashi University for a short time in March 2015. The faculty, staff, and facilities at Hitotsubashi University provided an invaluable and stimulating working environment. The visiting was organised within and with the support of the ‘JSPS Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers’ to work on the project ‘International Collaboration for Formulating Trans-Positional Capability Index’.
During my visiting period I presented two research papers.
One paper, entitled ‘Redistribution and Recognition: Welfare State in a Time of Multiculturalism’, focused on the challenges that multiculturalism poses to how the welfare state has been conceived, providing some European examples of minorities and public policies.
The second paper, entitled ‘Respect, Self-Respect and the Capability Approach’, focused on the relations between the notion of 'self-respect' and the capability approach, investigating if, and the ways in which, the capability approach takes the ideal of self- respect more seriously than other accounts of distributive justice. Capability approach theorists have claimed the capability approach to be more hospitable to the liberal- egalitarian tenets of respect and self-respect than other distributive theories of justice, namely welfarism and resourcism. I have put such claims under scrutiny and discussed their possible interpretations. This research work aims to question and clarify the conceptual and philosophical background of the capability approach and its indexes in order to reestablish a stronger theoretical foundation.
Discussing this research work with other scholars working on the capability approach from different perspectives and disciplines was an extraordinary opportunity and a promising way towards a more unified framework, allowing for a interdisciplinary theoretical foundation , and allowing for public policy recommendations across different areas and cultural contexts.
Joanna Coast
Institution: University of Birmingham
Period of stay: 2nd-11th March 2015
What was your research topic while you stayed in Japan?
I worked in the area of the capability approach applied to health. The work focused on consideration of expanding the ICECAP capability measures that we have developed in the UK for use in healthcare decision-making, into a life course framework. The work also involved some collaboration with researchers at Hitotsubashi University who are currently translating the ICECAP-O measure (for older people) for use in a Japanese setting.
In which direction(s) do you plan to carry out your research in the future?
My work in the future will draw on this life-course based theoretical framework, thinking particularly about the extension of the measurement approach to children and adolescents.
What did you think about our program to foster international research collaboration?
I thought the programme was extremely interesting. It was excellent to meet researchers working in this area and to have the opportunity for detailed discussion on particular issues. I appreciated the opportunity to give a seminar and that the organisers went to particular effort to run the seminar at a time that would ensure that it was possible for those working in the medical field to attend. I also appreciated the efforts to make me comfortable in terms of office provision, and to ensure that I saw something of Tokyo.
Can you share with us any interesting episode you had in Japan, if any?
I found the discussion of translation issues for the ICECAP-O particularly interesting, given the cultural differences between UK and Japan, and also the differences in language and how words are used in practice to give meaning. I felt that this discussion was very productive.
It would be nice if you can also answer the following question briefly. We hope that young (and old!) researchers working on the capability approach can benefit from your experiences and advice.
How did you encounter the capability approach? What brought you to pursue your research using the capability approach? What do you think are its advantages, compared with the other approaches?
I initially encountered the capability approach through the literature from Amartya Sen, and discussed a number of his works in my doctorate. My main work on the capability approach, however, occurred following the conduct of qualitative research that highlighted how important capabilities are to people generally; it was this that resulted in my pursuit of research explicitly in this area. For me, a major advantage of the approach is that it reflects in evaluation what is actually important to people in their daily lives.
J. Mark Ramseyer
Institution: Harvard Law School
Period of stay: 10th-18th January 2015
I enjoyed the chance to spend a week at the Institute for Economic Research in January. I have been working on ways to identify activity by organized crime, and toward that end presented a rough draft of a study on extortion relating to nuclear power plants in Japan. I presented the study at the IER workshop, and received wonderfully helpful comments. I have spent much of the time since the workshop revising the study for publication.
The IER provides an excellent site for research in law & economics. It provides the ideal combination of a corps of world-class scholars and a great library, all in the relaxed ambience of Kunitachi. I hope I will have many opportunities to work with the IER faculty in the future.