Hideo Akabayashi - Faculty Interview

Recently, against a backdrop of growing concerns about economic disparity and distrust in the school system, families not only in Japan but in many developed countries have become eager to spend money on their children's education.

Economics has traditionally viewed education as an "investment," believing that it should be pursued based on the costs incurred and the expected returns. This is the starting point for the economics of education. Since only families that can afford the costs can make educational investments, there are concerns that economic disparities among households lead to educational disparities. Consequently, many countries have implemented financial support from the government for children from low-income families.

However, does spending money on children necessarily yield educational results?

In reality, even if you pay for them to attend Juku and tell them to "study," if they respond with "What's the point of studying that?" or "I don't want to study," that's the end of it.

Fundamentally, families must have roles other than just spending money on their children's education. Without understanding what the role of a parent is and what is happening within the home, we cannot grasp the relationship between education and the family. However, ambiguous concepts like the parent-child relationship could not be captured within the framework of existing economics of education.

Our research group strives to incorporate findings from sociology and psychology—that is, a behavioral economics perspective—into our research on the economics of education and the economics of the family. This has become a global research trend, and we are engaged in collaborative research activities across countries and disciplines with researchers who share our awareness of these issues.

Over the past decade, in particular, I have been advancing my research from both global and local perspectives.

The global perspective involves conducting research while comparing Japan with other countries. However, because there was no internationally comparable longitudinal data on children regarding home education in Japan, we had to start with data collection. Since 2010, we have been conducting surveys and academic achievement tests for children from the first grade of elementary school to the third grade of junior high school nationwide, and we have made this data available to researchers as the "Japan Child Panel Survey." Through this, we are conducting comparative research on the relationship between family and children's education in collaboration with researchers from Europe, the United States, and China.

From a local perspective, we are also advancing experiments targeting Japanese families. Under what conditions do children become motivated to study? In what situations do they want an allowance? How do parents' words and actions, as well as family background, affect children's behavior? Existing economics has not provided clear answers to these questions, but I am attempting to elucidate them through an experimental economics approach. This initiative is rare even from a global standpoint.

In 2017, I established the externally funded "Research Center for Equal Opportunities for Children" at the Institute for Economic Studies, Keio University. In collaboration with researchers and organizations both in Japan and abroad, I use it as a platform to seek understanding of academic research from survey participants and to disseminate our research findings. Moving forward, I intend to continue exploring the mysteries of how families and society influence children's education and the next generation, utilizing all possible methods and approaches such as theory, data, and experiments, all with an international perspective.

For all students, the family is the most familiar economic entity, and education is the most familiar economic activity. However, to consider and elucidate their meaning in society requires a deep understanding of economic theory, the ability to analyze data, and the capacity to interpret social realities from an international perspective—which is, in fact, no simple task. I truly hope that those who are interested will dive into this field, and the skills learned in the process will be beneficial in any part of society.

In any case, I want students to devote themselves to the issues they want to study and the themes they want to pursue, without being swayed by short-term trends. Superficial knowledge quickly becomes obsolete, but the skills gained from serious engagement become a lifelong asset. A university is a place where you can engage in truly free intellectual activity before you go out into the world. I strongly encourage you to tackle studies and themes that you can only pursue at a university.

(Published December 2021)