Introduction to Environmental Economics and Policy in Japan

Dr. Toshi H. Arimura is a professor of Political Science and Economics and Director of the Research Institute for Environment Economics and Management at Waseda University in Tokyo. Prior to joining Waseda, he was a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and was a visiting scholar with George Mason University and Resources for the Future as a recipient of the Abe Fellowship. His research interests include climate change, energy policies, air pollution regulations, and voluntary environmental actions. Dr. Arimura holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota, an M.Sc. in environmental sciences from the University of Tsukuba, and a B.A. in history of science from the University of Tokyo. He has served on a number of Japanese government committees on environmental issues including the committees on carbon pricing (2018) of the environmental council under Ministry of the Environment and on GX-ETS (2022) under Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. He is currently a visiting Scholar to Paris School of Economics and Sciences Po.

Dr. Akira Hibiki is a professor at Graduate School of Economics and Management and a director at Research Center for Policy Design at Tohoku University. He also serves as a head of a Research Group at National Institute for Environmental Studies and a consulting fellow at Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (RIETI). Prior to joining Tohoku University, he was a professor at Sophia University, a head of Environmental Economics Section at National Institute for Environmental Studies, and an associate professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. He also served as a president of Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies in Japan (2018-2020). His research centers on topics related to environmental and resource economics.