in Japan, the number of depression patients has markedly increased over the last 10 years, and depression is now a major social concern. Moreover, there are concerns that patients with depression are not always seekin...in Japan, the number of depression patients has markedly increased over the last 10 years, and depression is now a major social concern. Moreover, there are concerns that patients with depression are not always seeking the treatment they need, in part due to the stigma associated with the illness. Despite of increasing public awareness of depression, the stigma has not lessened, but has changed in form. Previous studies report that depression which was once viewed as a special psychiatric illness is now viewed as a "common" mental illness. The author, too, believes that the nature of the stigmatization has changed in recent years to become more complex and ultimately continues to present a barrier to treatment for people with depression. This study aims to explore how the stigmatization has changed by examining one specific aspect in society that may have contributed to this change, namely, the media's portrayal of depression. The author presents and discusses clear examples of how the Japanese media's portrayals of depression have changed, particularly over the last 20 to 30 years, and discusses how media influence could have contributed to the shifts in stigmatization, with reference to labeling theory and growing social isolation.展开更多
This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to investigate the competitive implications of quality choices of financial institutions whereby they charge prices to consumers based on their willingness to pay...This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to investigate the competitive implications of quality choices of financial institutions whereby they charge prices to consumers based on their willingness to pay for the service qualities in the mixed market scenario under vertical product differentiation model. Initially, it analyzes benchmark equilibrium solutions of monopoly and duopoly to establish the degree of quality differentiation between two private banks in an uncover market configuration. Further, it estimates the quality differentiation between private and public banks, and examines the interaction between two market structures keeping public bank as both leader and follower, and then measures the social welfare from different prospectives. The explicit operation of two stages Nash equilibrium game forecasted that public banks' monopoly seems to be still better than a private banking, and it is socially optimal. The outcome demonstrates a significant importance of vertical quality differentiation for policy implication in banking industry and provides an insight on the reasons of particular co-existence of public and private banking services in the specified location. In this context, it is concluded that the presence of public banks in banking industries is a crucial condition for obtaining the higher range of social welfare.展开更多
文摘in Japan, the number of depression patients has markedly increased over the last 10 years, and depression is now a major social concern. Moreover, there are concerns that patients with depression are not always seeking the treatment they need, in part due to the stigma associated with the illness. Despite of increasing public awareness of depression, the stigma has not lessened, but has changed in form. Previous studies report that depression which was once viewed as a special psychiatric illness is now viewed as a "common" mental illness. The author, too, believes that the nature of the stigmatization has changed in recent years to become more complex and ultimately continues to present a barrier to treatment for people with depression. This study aims to explore how the stigmatization has changed by examining one specific aspect in society that may have contributed to this change, namely, the media's portrayal of depression. The author presents and discusses clear examples of how the Japanese media's portrayals of depression have changed, particularly over the last 20 to 30 years, and discusses how media influence could have contributed to the shifts in stigmatization, with reference to labeling theory and growing social isolation.
文摘This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to investigate the competitive implications of quality choices of financial institutions whereby they charge prices to consumers based on their willingness to pay for the service qualities in the mixed market scenario under vertical product differentiation model. Initially, it analyzes benchmark equilibrium solutions of monopoly and duopoly to establish the degree of quality differentiation between two private banks in an uncover market configuration. Further, it estimates the quality differentiation between private and public banks, and examines the interaction between two market structures keeping public bank as both leader and follower, and then measures the social welfare from different prospectives. The explicit operation of two stages Nash equilibrium game forecasted that public banks' monopoly seems to be still better than a private banking, and it is socially optimal. The outcome demonstrates a significant importance of vertical quality differentiation for policy implication in banking industry and provides an insight on the reasons of particular co-existence of public and private banking services in the specified location. In this context, it is concluded that the presence of public banks in banking industries is a crucial condition for obtaining the higher range of social welfare.