Doctoral Program
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Student News
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Award
Rentaro Utamaru, a third-year doctoral student, received the Best Paper Award at the 20th Applied Econometrics Conference, held on Saturday, November 8, at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, for his paper titled “From Reduced to Structural: A New Identification Strategy for Production Functions.”
Abstract of the Award-Winning Paper:
Standard estimation methods for production functions often face weak-instrument problems, making it difficult to identify flexible input elasticities. This paper proposes a new identification strategy that resolves this issue by exploiting differences in the timing of firms’ input decisions. Furthermore, based on the internal consistency of this strategy, the paper develops a testing method to evaluate the validity of the model. Simulation and empirical analyses suggest that the proposed method can effectively correct bias in estimators.
The 20th Applied Econometrics Conference
The conference was held on November 8, 2025, organized jointly by Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University, the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Osaka University.
The Applied Econometrics Conference is one of Japan’s leading academic conferences for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers conducting empirical studies. It brings together graduate students and early-career researchers who use microeconometric analytical frameworks, and aims to promote research employing microeconometric methods through small-group discussions and active exchange of ideas.