Keiko Nosse Hirono is a professor of economics at Nihon University. She has served as a member of the Council for Establishment of Universities, Ministry of Education, and the Central National Property Council, Ministry of Finance. She is a council member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Housing Policy. As a housing economist, she draws from the fields of applied microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. She has published widely on housing market efficiency, housing valuation using the hedonic method, the Japanese government’s low-interest rate policy on housing starts, and housing policies to improve housing quality through policies aimed at providing barrier-free housing and earthquake-proof housing. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Nihon University, M.A. in Economics from Yale University and Hitotsubashi University, and B.A. in Economics from Tokyo University. Her work has been published in acclaimed journals such as Monetary and Economic Studies, Studies in Regional Science, Pacific Economic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Housing and Land Economics, Journal of Household Economics, and Journal of Property Assessment Policy. Besides, she has also edited and authored several books.
Kazuhiro Yaguchi is a full professor of economics at Keiai University. Before joining Keiai University, he was a full professor of economics at Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University and a researcher at Life Design Institute. He received his master’s degree in economics from Keio University and B.A.in Economics from Hosei University. In recent years, apart from teaching at the university, he has also been consulting on regional policy for the city of Chiba in Japan. As a specialist, he draws from the fields of urban and regional policy. His wide-ranging research interests include compact city policy, economic analysis of real estate-related regulations. and the economic influence of real estate securitization. He has published his own research in books, which he also co-edited, titled Community no Saisei [Regeneration of Communities] and Higashinihondaishinsai kara 10 nen: Saisei hatten ni Okeru Kadai no Bunseki [Economic and Analysis on Reconstruction Period and the Stages of Regeneration after a Great Earthquake: Ten Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake].