IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v98y2025ics1049007825000417.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional employment during recessions and recoveries in Japan: A data-driven approach

Author

Listed:
  • Adachi, Yusuke
  • Ogawa, Hikaru
  • Tsubuku, Masafumi

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of economic shocks on regional employment in Japan using causal forest algorithms and compares the data-driven findings with estimates derived from standard ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Our results reveal no significant difference in the magnitude of impact between small and large regions. Instead, regional differences in impact stem from variations in pre-crisis employment growth and the concentration of local employment. Specifically, regions with a high proportion of manufacturing jobs demonstrate resilience to recession-related job losses but recover slowly, while regions with pre-crisis employment growth exceeding 5% suffer steep declines during recessions but exhibit strong recoveries.

Suggested Citation

  • Adachi, Yusuke & Ogawa, Hikaru & Tsubuku, Masafumi, 2025. "Regional employment during recessions and recoveries in Japan: A data-driven approach," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:98:y:2025:i:c:s1049007825000417
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101917
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007825000417
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101917?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Di Caro, 2017. "Testing and explaining economic resilience with an application to Italian regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(1), pages 93-113, March.
    2. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2015. "On the notion of regional economic resilience: conceptualization and explanation," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42.
    3. Fabio Mazzola & Iolanda Cascio & Rosalia Epifanio & Giuseppe Giacomo, 2018. "Territorial capital and growth over the Great Recession: a local analysis for Italy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(2), pages 411-441, March.
    4. Stefan Wager & Susan Athey, 2018. "Estimation and Inference of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects using Random Forests," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 113(523), pages 1228-1242, July.
    5. Stefan P. T. Groot & J. L. Möhlmann & J. H. Garretsen & Henri L. F. de Groot, 2011. "The crisis sensitivity of European countries and regions: stylized facts and spatial heterogeneity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 4(3), pages 437-456.
    6. Arribas-Bel, Daniel & Garcia-López, M.-À. & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2021. "Building(s and) cities: Delineating urban areas with a machine learning algorithm," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Jonathan Reades & Jordan De Souza & Phil Hubbard, 2019. "Understanding urban gentrification through machine learning," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(5), pages 922-942, April.
    8. Gerhard Bry & Charlotte Boschan, 1971. "Cyclical Analysis of Time Series: Selected Procedures and Computer Programs," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bry_71-1, October.
    9. Adelheid Holl, 2018. "Local employment growth patterns and the Great Recession: The case of Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 837-863, September.
    10. Hoffmann, Arvid O.I. & Post, Thomas & Pennings, Joost M.E., 2013. "Individual investor perceptions and behavior during the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 60-74.
    11. Chie Hanaoka & Hitoshi Shigeoka & Yasutora Watanabe, 2018. "Do Risk Preferences Change? Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 298-330, April.
    12. Tsuruta, Daisuke, 2019. "Working capital management during the global financial crisis: Evidence from Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 206-219.
    13. Fukuda, Akira, 2022. "Effects of financial frictions on employment: Evidence from Japan during the Global Financial Crisis," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Galdo, Virgilio & Li, Yue & Rama, Martin, 2021. "Identifying urban areas by combining human judgment and machine learning: An application to India," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Bernard Fingleton & Harry Garretsen & Ron Martin, 2012. "Recessionary Shocks And Regional Employment: Evidence On The Resilience Of U.K. Regions," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 109-133, February.
    16. Gerhard Bry & Charlotte Boschan, 1971. "Foreword to "Cyclical Analysis of Time Series: Selected Procedures and Computer Programs"," NBER Chapters, in: Cyclical Analysis of Time Series: Selected Procedures and Computer Programs, pages -1, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura & Andrés Maroto, 2016. "Unbalanced regional resilience to the economic crisis in Spain: a tale of specialisation and productivity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 9(1), pages 153-178.
    18. Elias Giannakis & Adriana Bruggeman, 2017. "Economic crisis and regional resilience: Evidence from Greece," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(3), pages 451-476, August.
    19. Anastasios Kitsos & Paul Bishop, 2018. "Economic resilience in Great Britain: the crisis impact and its determining factors for local authority districts," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(2), pages 329-347, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sébastien BOURDIN, 2018. "Géographie de la résilience des régions européennes face à la crise (2008-2013)," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 48, pages 53-70.
    2. Linus Holtermann & Christian Hundt, 2018. "Hierarchically structured determinants and phase related patterns of economic resilience. An empirical case study for European regions," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2018-02, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    3. Meiyue Li & Xiaowen Wang, 2022. "How Regions React to Economic Crisis: Regional Economic Resilience in a Chinese Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    4. Giuseppe Terzo, 2021. "Social capital, social economy and economic resilience of Italian provinces," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1113-1135, October.
    5. Xin Mai & Roger C. K. Chan & Chaoqun Zhan, 2019. "Which Sectors Really Matter for a Resilient Chinese Economy? A Structural Decomposition Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Hasan Engin Duran & Ugo Fratesi, 2023. "Economic resilience and regionally differentiated cycles: Evidence from a turning point approach in Italy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(2), pages 219-252, April.
    7. Elias Giannakis & Christos T. Papadas, 2021. "Spatial Connectivity and Regional Economic Resilience in Turbulent Times," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-12, October.
    8. Xin Mai & Roger C. K. Chan, 2020. "Detecting the intellectual pathway of resilience thinking in urban and regional studies: A critical reflection on resilience literature," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 876-889, September.
    9. Liangang Li & Pingyu Zhang & Chengxin Wang, 2022. "What Affects the Economic Resilience of China’s Yellow River Basin Amid Economic Crisis—From the Perspective of Spatial Heterogeneity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Michele Costa & Flavio Delbono, 2021. "The Italian Geography of Regional Resilience: The Role of Cooperative Firms," Working Papers wp1166, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    11. Pontarollo, Nicola & Serpieri, Carolina, 2020. "A composite policy tool to measure territorial resilience capacity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Ferran Navinés & José Pérez-Montiel & Carles Manera & Javier Franconetti, 2023. "Ranking the Spanish regions according to their resilience capacity during 1965–2011," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 71(2), pages 415-435, October.
    13. Giovanni Marin & Marco Modica, 2019. "The Survival of Italian Individual Firms to Local Demand Shocks During the Great Recession," Working Papers 1902, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    14. Roberto Cellini & Tiziana Cuccia, 2019. "Do behaviours in cultural markets affect economic resilience? An analysis of Italian regions," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 784-801, April.
    15. Anping Chen & Nicolaas Groenewold, 2022. "Regional Resilience in China: The Response of the Provinces to the Growth Slowdown," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 52(1), pages 74-103.
    16. Roberto Cellini & Paolo Di Caro & Gianpiero Torrisi, 2017. "Regional resilience in Italy: do employment and income tell the same story?," Chapters, in: Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson (ed.), Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness, chapter 14, pages 308-331, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Adelheid Holl, 2018. "Local employment growth patterns and the Great Recession: The case of Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 837-863, September.
    18. Giulio Cainelli & Roberto Ganau & Marco Modica, 2019. "Industrial relatedness and regional resilience in the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(2), pages 755-778, April.
    19. Lisa Gianmoena & Vicente Rios, 2018. "The Determinants of Resilience in European Regions During the Great Recession: a Bayesian Model Averaging Approach," Discussion Papers 2018/235, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    20. Giovanni Marin & Marco Modica, 2021. "Local demand shocks and firms' survival: An application to the Italian economy during the Great Recession," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 745-775, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:98:y:2025:i:c:s1049007825000417. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.