The worldwide COVID-19 vaccination program is already underway, raising hopes and aspirations to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that halted economic and social activities. However, the issue of vaccine effectiveness and its side-effects is influencing the potential acceptance of vaccines. In this uncertain situation, we used data from a nationwide survey in Japan during February 2021, following the Japanese government’s initial phase of COVID-19 vaccination. Our results show that 47% of the respondents are willing to take a vaccine once it is available, while 22% are not willing and another 31% remain indecisive. Our ordered probit regression results show that demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral variables such as gender, age, subjective health status, children, household income, household assets, financial literacy, future anxiety, and myopic view of the future are associated with willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Our findings suggest that Japan’s government should not adopt a one-size-fits-all policy to promote the vaccination program, but rather target people with specific socioeconomic backgrounds who are less willing and more hesitant to take a vaccine.

According to a survey by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in 2017, 3.6% of Japanese adults-equivalent to about 3.2 million people-have suffered from problem gambling at some point in their lifetime. This study examines the relationship between financial literacy, financial education, and gambling behavior (measured as gambling frequency) among the Japanese population. We hypothesize that financially literate and financially educated people who use their knowledge to make sound financial decisions are less likely to gamble. The data used in this study are from a nationwide survey in Japan from the Preference Parameters Study of Osaka University in 2010 (n = 3687). To control for endogeneity bias between financial literacy and gambling behavior, we use the education of respondents' fathers as an instrumental variable. The results from the probit-instrumental variable model show that financial literacy has a significantly negative relationship with gambling frequency, while financial education has no significant relationship with gambling frequency. Our findings suggest that problem gambling may be mitigated by promoting financial literacy, but no such conclusion can be drawn for financial education.

Japan has vaccinated its older population; a mass vaccination program for younger citizens is underway. Accordingly, this study investigated vaccine hesitancy among younger Japanese citizens. We used online panel survey data from the Hiroshima Institute of Health Economics Research of Hiroshima University and applied probit regression models. Our study found that vaccine hesitancy among younger people was significantly higher than among older people. Moreover, vaccine hesitancy was significantly higher among younger women than younger men and inter-age-group differences in vaccine hesitancy were higher for younger men than for younger women. Regression demonstrated that subjective health status and anxiety about the future were significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy among younger women and younger men of all ages, respectively. Furthermore, marital status, university degree, anxiety about the future, and myopic view of the future had specific associations with vaccine hesitancy among younger women of different ages, while subjective health status, university degree, having children, financial literacy, household income and assets, and myopic view about the future had specific associations with vaccine hesitancy among younger men of varying ages. Therefore, these results suggest that policymakers should consider the diversity among the younger generation while developing effective, tailored communication strategies to reduce their vaccine hesitancy.

Smoking is still a serious economic, health, and social problem despite various efforts to curb its prevalence. We examined the influence of financial literacy and financial education on the smoking behavior in the United States in terms of the use of rational decision-making abilities to reduce irrational behavior. We hypothesized that financial literacy and financial education, as proxies for rational decision making, would reduce the likelihood of smoking. We used data from the Preference Parameters Study (PPS) of Osaka University conducted in the United States in 2010 and applied probit regression models to test our hypothesis on a sample of 3831 individuals. We found that financially literate people are less likely to be smokers, though we found no clear role of financial education in reducing the likelihood of smoking. Further, respondents’ gender, age, unemployment status, and risky health behaviors such as drinking and gambling, have a significantly positive association with smoking, while marital status, university degree, family size, household income, household assets, physical exercise, and level of happiness have a significantly negative association. Our findings suggest that financial literacy, as an instrument encouraging rational decision making, could be a tool to help reduce smoking in the United States.

In this study, we examine the relationship between financial literacy, financial education, and smoking behavior among the Japanese population. We hypothesize that financially literate and financially educated people, who have the ability to make more rational decisions, are less likely to smoke. Using the Preference Parameters Study of Osaka University, conducted in 2010 (N = 3,706), the probit regression results show that both financial literacy (with an emphasis on knowledge of investments) and financial education (with an emphasis on savings behavior) have a significant negative impact on smoking behavior. In addition, gender, age, education, marital status, household income and assets, risky behaviors, a myopic view of the future, risk preference, and level of happiness also significantly predict the likelihood of a person being a current smoker. This study provides empirical evidence that enhancing the rational decision-making ability of individuals through financial literacy and financial education may curtail smoking behavior.

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