Some experimental sessions at the ASSA meetings...

Jan 03, 2016 10:15 am, Hilton Union Square, Continental – Parlor 1 
American Economic Association

Tax Experiments (H2, C9)

Presiding: ERZO F.P. LUTTMER (Dartmouth College)

Shaming Tax Delinquents

RICARDO PEREZ-TRUGLIA (Microsoft Research)

UGO TROIANO (University of Michigan)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Demand for Redistribution in Large and Small Groups

JOHANNA MOLLERSTROM (George Mason University)

DMITRY TAUBINSKY (Harvard University)

[View Abstract]

Heuristic Perceptions of the Income Tax: Evidence and Implications

ALEXANDER ROBERT REES-JONES (University of Pennsylvania)

DMITRY TAUBINSKY (Harvard University)

[View Abstract]

Raising the Stakes: Experimental Evidence on the Endogeneity of Taxpayer Mistakes

TATIANA HOMONOFF (Cornell University)

JACOB GOLDIN (Princeton University)

NAOMI FELDMAN (Federal Reserve Board)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Discussants:

STEFANIE STANTCHEVA (Harvard University)

DAVID SEIM (University of Toronto)

JUDD KESSLER (University of Pennsylvania)

UGO TROIANO (University of Michigan)

Jan 03, 2016 10:15 am, Marriott Marquis, Sierra B 
Economic Science Association

Economics Experiments on Networks (C9, D3)

Presiding: GARY CHARNESS (University of California-Santa Barbara)

Trading in Networks

SYNGJOO CHOI (University College London)

ANDREA GALEOTTI (University of Essex)

SANJEEV GOYAL (University of Cambridge)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Communication and (Non)-Equilibrium Selection

GARY CHARNESS (University of California-Santa Barbara)

FRANCESCO FERI (University of London-Royal Holloway)

MIGUEL MELENDEZ (University of Malaga)

MATTHIAS SUTTER (University of Innsbruck)

[View Abstract]

Strategic Communication and Learning in Networks

ABHIJIT BANERJEE (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

EMILY BREZA (Columbia University)

ARUN CHANDRASEKHAR (Stanford University)

ESTHER DUFLO (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

MATTHEW O. JACKSON (Stanford University)

[View Abstract]

Competition for Status Creates Superstars: An Experiment on Public Good Provision and Network Formation

THEO OFFERMAN (University of Amsterdam)

ARTHUR SCHRAM (University of Amsterdam)

BORIS VAN LEEUWEN (Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse )

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Jan 03, 2016 2:30 pm, Hilton Union Square, Yosemite B 
American Economic Association

Evidence from Lab and Field Experiments on Discrimination (J7, J2)

Presiding: PATRICK BUTTON (Tulane University and NBER)

Is it Harder for Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment

DAVID NEUMARK (University of California-Irvine, NBER, and IZA)

IAN BURN (University of California-Irvine)

PATRICK BUTTON (Tulane University and NBER)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Discrimination at the Intersection of Age, Race, and Gender: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment

JOANNA LAHEY (Texas A&M University and NBER)

DOUGLAS OXLEY (University of Wyoming)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Do Employers Consider Unemployment Duration, Low-Quality Interim Employment, and Age in Hiring? Evidence from an Audit Study

HENRY FARBER (Princeton University)

DANIEL SILVERMAN (Arizona State University)

TILL VON WACHTER (University of California-Los Angeles)

[View Abstract]

Exploring Both the Supply and Demand Sides of Discrimination

JOHN LIST (University of Chicago)

ANTHONY HEYES (University of Ottawa)

[View Abstract]

Discussants:

MATHEW J. NOTOWIDIGDO (Northwestern University and NBER)

CHRISTIAN MANGER (University of Tuebingen)

CATHERINE ECKEL (Texas A&M University)

Jan 03, 2016 2:30 pm, Hilton Union Square, Union Square 16 
Econometric Society

Bureaucrats and Politicians: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies (A1)

Presiding: JOHANNA RICKNE (Research Institute for Industrial Economics)

Who Becomes a Politician?

OLLE FOLKE (Columbia University)

JOHANNA RICKNE (Research Institute for Industrial Economics)

ERNESTO DAL BO (University of California, Berkeley)

FREDERICO FINAN (University of California, Berkeley)

TORSTEN PERSSON (Stockholm University)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

The Determinants and Consequences of Bureaucratic Effectiveness: Evidence from the Indian Administrative Service

MARIANNE BERTRAND (University of Chicago)

ROBIN BURGESS (London School of Economics)

ARUNISH CHAWLA (Department of Economics)

GUO XU (London School of Economics)

Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Evidence from a Health Experiment in Pakistan

MICHAEL CALLEN (Harvard University)

SAAD GULZAR (New York University)

ALI HASANAIN (Lahore University of Management Sciences)

YASIR KHAN (International Growth Center)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Efficiency Wages in the Public Sector? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

NAVA ASHRAF (Harvard Business School)

ORIANA BANDIERA (LSE)

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Jan 04, 2016

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Jan 04, 2016 8:00 am, Hilton Union Square, Continental Ballroom 4 
American Economic Association

Gender at Work: Evidence from Experimental Economics (C9, J7)

Presiding: CATHERINE ECKEL (Texas A&M University)

Knowing When to Ask: The Cost of Leaning In

CHRISTINE EXLEY (Stanford University)

MURIEL NIEDERLE (Stanford University)

LISE VESTERLUND (University of Pittsburgh)

[View Abstract]

A University-Wide Field Experiment on Gender Differences in Job Entry Decisions

ANYA SAMEK (University of Southern California)

[View Abstract]

Born to Lead? Gender Differences in Incentive Provision and Its Evaluation

ALEXANDRA VAN GEEN (Erasmus University)

OLGA SHURCHKOV (Wellesley College)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Gender Differences in Negotiation by Communication Method

ADAM GREENBERG (University of California-San Diego)

RAGAN PETRIE (George Mason University)

[View Abstract]

Stress and the gender difference in willingness to compete

THOMAS BUSER (University of Amsterdam)

ANNA DREBER ALMENBERG (Stockholm School of Economics)

JOHANNA MOLLERSTROM (George Mason University)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview] [Download PowerPoint]

Discussants:

CHRISTINE EXLEY (Stanford University)

ANAT BRACHA (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston)

KATHERINE COFFMAN (Ohio State University)

ALEXANDRA VAN GEEN (Erasmus University)

Jan 04, 2016 8:00 am, Marriott Marquis, Sierra B 
Economic Science Association

Experiments on Bargaining: The Role of Risk, Deadlines and Reference Points (C7, C9)

Presiding: KYLE HYNDMAN (Naveen Jindal School of Management and University of Texas-Dallas)

Is Earned Bargaining Power More Fully Exploited?

NICHOLAS FELTOVICH (Monash University)

[View Abstract]

Bargaining Under Time Pressure

EMIN KARAGÖZOĞLU (Bilkent University)

MARTIN GEORG KOCHER (University of Munich)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Dynamic Unstructured Bargaining with Private Information and Deadlines: Theory and Experiment

COLIN F. CAMERER (California Institute of Technology)

GIDEON NAVE (California Institute of Technology)

ALEC SMITH (University of Arizona and Compass Lexecon)

[View Abstract]

Reference Points, Reputation and Strategies in a Dynamic Bargaining Environment with a Residual Claimant

MATTHEW EMBREY (University of Sussex)

KYLE HYNDMAN (University of Texas-Dallas)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Discussants:

ALISTAIR WILSON (University of Pittsburgh)

MATTHEW EMBREY (University of Sussex)

CHLOE TERGIMAN (Pennsylvania State University)

TIMOTHY SALMON (Southern Methodist University)

Jan 04, 2016 10:15 am, Hilton Union Square, Franciscan C 
American Economic Association

Reproducibility of Social Science Experiments: Some Innovative Evidence(C9, C8)

Presiding: COLIN F. CAMERER (California Institute of Technology)

Do Economics Lab Experiments in AER and QJE Replicate Predictably?

ESKIL FORSELL (Stockholm School of Economics)

TECK HO (University of California-Berkeley)

JUERGEN HUBER (University of Innsbruck)

MICHAEL KIRCHLER (University of Innsbruck)

ANNA DREBER ALMENBERG (Stockholm School of Economics)

[View Abstract]

P-Curve Analysis Shows False Positives are Not Common in Experimental Economics

KLAVDIA ZEMLIANOVA (National University of Singapore)

COLIN F. CAMERER (California Institute of Technology)

[View Abstract]

Using Prediction Markets to Estimate the Reproducibility in Science: The Many Labs 2 Replications

ESKIL FORSELL (Stockholm School of Economics)

THOMAS PFEIFFER (NZ Institute Advanced Study)

YILING CHEN (Harvard University)

ANNA DREBER ALMENBERG (Stockholm School of Economics)

MAGNUS JOHANNESSON (Stockholm School of Economics)

[View Abstract]

 

Jan 04, 2016 2:30 pm, Hilton Union Square, Franciscan C 
American Economic Association

Experimental Gender Economics (C9, D8)

Presiding: MURIEL NIEDERLE (Stanford University)

Affirmative Action and Stereotype Threat

ANAT BRACHA (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston)

ALMA COHEN (Harvard University)

LYNN CONELL-PRICE (Carnegie Mellon University)

[View Abstract]

Risk in the Background: How Men and Women Respond

ALEXANDRA VAN GEEN (Erasmus University)

[View Abstract]

After You: Gender and Group Decision-Making

PEDRO BORDALO (Royal Holloway)

KATHERINE COFFMAN (Ohio State University)

NICOLA GENNAIOLI (Bocconi University)

ANDREI SHLEIFER (Harvard University)

[View Abstract]

Bursting the Bubble: Gender Differences in Financial Bubbles with Anonymous Traders

CATHERINE ECKEL (Texas A&M University)

SASCHA FÜLLBRUNN (Radboud University)

[View Abstract]

Discussants:

JOHANNA MOLLERSTROM (George Mason University)

MARIA RECALDE (International Food Policy Research Institute)

ANYA SAMEK (University of Southern Califiornia)

OLGA SHURCHKOV (Wellesley College)

Jan 04, 2016 2:30 pm, Hilton Union Square, Union Square 22 
American Economic Association

Experimental Impacts of Vocational Education in Low and Middle Income Countries (J1, O1)

Presiding: ADRIANA DEBORA KUGLER (Georgetown University)

The Demand for, and Impact of, Youth Internships: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Yemen

DAVID MCKENZIE (World Bank)

ANA PAULA CUSOLITO (World Bank)

NABILA ASSAF (World Bank)

[View Abstract] [Download Preview]

Long-Term Direct and Spillover Effects of Job Training: Experimental Evidence from Colombia

ADRIANA DEBORA KUGLER (Georgetown University, NBER, CEPR, and IZA)

MAURICE DAVID KUGLER (IMPAQ)

JUAN SAAVEDRA (University of Southern California)

LUIS OMAR HERRERA (Inter-American Development Bank)

[View Abstract]

Vocational Education Voucher Delivery and Labor Market Returns: A Randomized Evaluation Among Kenyan Youth

JOAN HAMMORY HICKS (Center for Effective Global Action)

MICHAEL KREMER (Harvard University)

ISAAC MBITI (University of Virginia)

EDWARD MIGUEL (University of California-Berkeley)

[View Abstract]

Returns to Vocational Education in Mongolia

ERICA FIELD (Duke University)

LEIGH LINDEN (University of Texas-Austin)

DANIEL RUBENSON (Ryerson University)

SHING-YI WANG (University of Pennsylvania)

[View Abstract]

Discussants:

OFER MALAMUD (University of Chicago)

ERICA FIELD (Duke University)

REBECCA THORNTON (University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign)

AHMED MUSHFIQ MOBARAK (Yale University)

So, you want to run an art gallery?

Be prepared for high rent, and insurance: The New Art World Math: What It Really Costs to Be an Art Dealer: And why costs are going up

Stanford faculty on Stanford football (while waiting for the Rose Bowl)

Someone at Stanford thought it would be funny to make very short videos of Stanford faculty members saying something non-traditional about football, in the run-up to the Rose Bowl. (I think Hank Greely No 2, who also talks about market design of sorts, is the winner, but maybe I'm the runner-up:)  

Persis Drell on Stanford Football - YouTube

▶ 0:16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38siXF9eNgk

12 hours ago - Uploaded by Stanford

Ahead of the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, Persis Drell, dean of theStanford School of Engineering, explains the ...

Hank Greely on Stanford Football - YouTube

▶ 0:46

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h-f1oR3ur8

12 hours ago - Uploaded by Stanford

In preparation for the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, Hank Greely, the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor ...

Alex Nemerov on Stanford Football - YouTube

▶ 0:16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLIF-OEKzr8

12 hours ago - Uploaded by Stanford

Whether in a museum or a football stadium, the potential for great beauty exists. In advance of the 102nd Rose ...

Hank Greely on Stanford Football, No. 2 - YouTube

▶ 0:46

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8PIBTnHfTE

12 hours ago - Uploaded by Stanford

What concerns does a bioethicist bring to the 102nd Rose Bowl Game? Hank Greely, the Deane F. and Kate ...

Al Roth on Stanford Football - YouTube

▶ 0:22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmiLW4sLKw

12 hours ago - Uploaded by Stanford

Ahead of the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, Alvin Roth, the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics, shares ...

MGP, the market for American whiskeys, and thoughts of the year gone by

Suppose you would like to start producing fine bourbon, aged for (at least) several years in charred American white oak. How can you hit the ground running?  MGP.  Those initials used to stand for  Midwest Grain Products, Inc., but the company is now called MGP Ingredients, Inc., and makes industrial quantities of lots of things that start out as plants.

So, if you are a new bourbon producer (or an established brand, non-distilling producer), you can buy bourbon from MGP,  which makes it in vast quantities in Indiana, and, voila, you have your own small batch whiskey ready to go. (According to Wikipedia, "There are generally no clear criteria as to what defines a "small batch.")

(I'm reminded of how Samuel Adams beer, which started off being sold to beer drinkers in Boston who appreciated a local beer, was initially brewed under contract by Iron City in Pittsburgh, where I lived at the time...none of this is mentioned at https://www.samueladams.com/history).
************

I might do some market research tonight, while thinking of the year gone by.

Among economists whose passing I marked this year, John and Alicia Nash (and here and here), Herb Scarf, and Douglass North.

Non-directed kidney donors: are they neurologically different?

I'm somewhat skeptical of broad conclusions drawn on the basis of brain imaging, but here's a paper from the October 21, 2014 PNAS reporting an imaging study from a population that included 19 non-directed ('altruistic') kidney donors. It shared this year's Cozzarelli Prize, given annually to six papers published in PNAS:

Neural and cognitive characteristics of extraordinary altruists

1. Abigail A. Marsha,1, 
2. Sarah A. Stoycosa, 
3. Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitza, 
4. Paul Robinsonb, 
5. John W. VanMeterc, and 
6. Elise M. Cardinalea

Author Affiliations

1. aDepartment of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057;
2. bDepartment of Radiology, Integrated Brain Imaging Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195;
3. cDepartment of Neurology, Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington,DC 20057

1. Edited by Michael S. Gazzaniga, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and approved August 18, 2014 (received for review May 8, 2014)

1. Abstract
2. Full Text
3. Authors & Info
4. Figures
5. SI
6. Metrics
7. Related Content
8. PDF

Significance

Altruism, and particularly costly altruism toward strangers, such as altruistic kidney donation, represents a puzzling phenomenon for many fields of science, including evolutionary biology, psychology, and economics. How can such behavior be explained? The propensity to engage in costly altruism varies widely and may be genetically mediated, but little is known about the neural mechanisms that support it. We used structural and functional brain imaging to compare extraordinary altruists, specifically altruistic kidney donors, and controls. Altruists exhibited variations in neural anatomy and functioning that represent the inverse of patterns previously observed in psychopaths, who are unusually callous and antisocial. These findings suggest extraordinary altruism represents one end of a caring continuum and is supported by neural mechanisms that underlie social and emotional responsiveness.

Abstract

Altruistic behavior improves the welfare of another individual while reducing the altruist’s welfare. Humans’ tendency to engage in altruistic behaviors is unevenly distributed across the population, and individual variation in altruistic tendencies may be genetically mediated. Although neural endophenotypes of heightened or extreme antisocial behavior tendencies have been identified in, for example, studies of psychopaths, little is known about the neural mechanisms that support heightened or extreme prosocial or altruistic tendencies. In this study, we used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess a population of extraordinary altruists: altruistic kidney donors who volunteered to donate a kidney to a stranger. Such donations meet the most stringent definitions of altruism in that they represent an intentional behavior that incurs significant costs to the donor to benefit an anonymous, nonkin other. Functional imaging and behavioral tasks included face-emotion processing paradigms that reliably distinguish psychopathic individuals from controls. Here we show that extraordinary altruists can be distinguished from controls by their enhanced volume in right amygdala and enhanced responsiveness of this structure to fearful facial expressions, an effect that predicts superior perceptual sensitivity to these expressions. These results mirror the reduced amygdala volume and reduced responsiveness to fearful facial expressions observed in psychopathic individuals. Our results support the possibility of a neural basis for extraordinary altruism. We anticipate that these findings will expand the scope of research on biological mechanisms that promote altruistic behaviors to include neural mechanisms that support affective and social responsiveness.

The Washington Post discusses compensation for organ donors

Frank McCormick alerts me that the Washington Post yesterday took the recent article he coauthored in the American Journal of Transplantation as a jumping off point to discuss the pros and cons of addressing the shortage of transplantable kidneys by allowing the government to pay donors (the article proposed that only the government could pay, and considered payments of $45,000 for a living donor kidney).

 The  WaPo starts with a general description of the opposing positions:  Compensation for organ donors: A primer.

Their brief discussion sets the stage with lots of links (and will be familiar to readers of this blog who have been following my several posts on  compensation for donors).  

They end with this promise of more discussions, which I'll link to below as they appear (spoiler--Sally Satel is pro compensation, and Frank Delmonico doesn't think it's a good idea):

"Over the next few days, we’ll hear from:

Sally Satel, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and practicing psychiatrist at the Yale University School of Medicine,

Francis Delmonico, Harvard Medical School professor of surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Alexander Capron, professor of law and medicine at the University of Southern California,

Scott Sumner, economist at Bentley University and blogger at The Money Illusion,

Benjamin Humphreys, program director at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute,

{Josh Morrison, who wasn't on the original list but is a great choice...}

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, founder of Organ Watch and anthropology professor at University of California, Berkeley."

Sally Satel is first:  Generosity won’t fix our shortage of organs for transplants

Taking the opposite point of view (but arguing that we should do more to reduce financial disincentives to donating, by paying for donor expenses): Francis Delmonico and Alexander Capron December 29, Our body parts shouldn’t be for sale

Scott Sumner's headline and sub-headline also speaks for itself:  The moral case for paying kidney donors:  We can save lives and cut costs with one change in policy. 

Will lab-grown kidneys fix our transplant waiting lists?: Benjamin Humphreys is optimistic that they will, eventually.
It’s time to treat organ donors with the respect they deserve: Josh Morrison is a kidney donor and the executive director of WaitList Zero, a nonprofit devoted to representing living donors and supporting living donation.

Scott Carney disagrees, on practical grounds (he thinks that a legal US market would foster badly regulated overseas markets): If you’re willing to buy a kidney, you’re willing to exploit the poor: Legalizing the sale of kidneys in America would lead to a booming black market everywhere else.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, who has spoken to many black market kidney sellers, thinks that legal markets couldn't funcion much differently: The market for human organs is destroying lives We don't have "spare" kidneys. They shouldn't be up for sale.

Open access to The Art of Designing Markets, in HBR

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) has a pretty high and well defended paywall, but they have made my October 2007 article, The Art of Designing Markets, freely available.
https://hbr.org/2007/10/the-art-of-designing-markets

Here's the first paragraph:
"Traditional economics views markets as simply the confluence of supply and demand. A new field of economics, known as “market design,” recognizes that well-functioning markets depend on detailed rules. For example, supply and demand drive both stock markets and labor markets, but someone who wants to buy or sell shares in a company goes through very different procedures from those followed by a job seeker or an employer. Moreover, labor markets work differently from one another: Doctors aren’t hired the way lawyers, professional baseball players, or new MBAs are. Market designers try to understand these differences and the rules and procedures that make various kinds of markets work well or badly. Their aim is to know the workings and requirements of particular markets well enough to fix them when they’re broken or to build markets from scratch when they’re missing."

There is no law against cannibalism in England

The Guardian has the story: Eating people is wrong, but is it against the law?

"Has José Salvador Alvarenga been reaching for the fava beans and chianti? The 36-year-old sailor survived at sea for more than a year after being cast adrift by a storm. But now the family of his fellow sailor, 22-year-old Ezequiel Córdoba, say the older man turned cannibal to survive. Alvarenga insists Córdoba died because he could not stomach the raw birds and turtle blood that were their only source of food. But Córdoba’s family are suing the Salvadorian fisherman for $1m for eating their relative.

It would not be the first time a survivor in extreme circumstances had tucked in to a fellow traveller. After a plane crash in the Andes in 1972, passengers ate the frozen remains of those who had perished, surviving 72 days before they were rescued. In 2000, three migrants from the Dominican republic survived for three weeks when their boat engine failed at sea, only by devouring some of the 60 others who succumbed to dehydration and exposure.

But is eating someone’s flesh in such extreme conditions against the law? Not in the UK, according to Samantha Pegg, senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. “There is no offence of cannibalism in our jurisdiction,” Dr Pegg says. She points out that Alvarenga’s story is similar to a famous case in legal history. In 1884, a four-man crew sailing from England to Australia were shipwrecked with almost no food. When the 17-year-old cabin boy became ill, two of the men, Stephens and Dudley, decided to kill and eat him. Five days later they were rescued and charged with murder. The third man was not charged, despite eating his companion’s flesh. Although their lawyers argued that killing the cabin boy was a necessity for the survival of the three other men, Stephens and Dudley wereconvicted of murder and sentenced to death – later commuted to six months’ imprisonment. “This set a precedent that there is no necessity defence for murder,” points out Pegg.

In cases of serial killers or sexually motivated cannibals, the charge is always murder, she says. In Germany, where there is also no offence of cannibalism, a court had to wrestle with a case where a man “offered” himself to be killed and consumed by an IT expert called Armin Meiwes – Meiwes was still convicted of murder. Last year, a German police officer was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years for a similar crime of “murder and disturbing the peace of the dead”. However, because his victim was said to be “willing”, he was not given the maximum sentence.

Other would-be cannibals could face charges of outraging public decency or preventing a lawful burial, says Pegg. In 1988, performance artist Rick Gibson ate human tonsils on the street; he claims to be “the first cannibal in British history to legally eat human meat in public.” With a rise in “body food”, and eating your partner’s placenta, he may not be the last."

Maiden names are repugnant in Japan

The NY Times has the story: Japan’s Top Court Upholds Law Requiring Spouses to Share Surname

"Japan’s highest court upheld a law dating back more than a century that requires married couples to share the same surname, rejecting a claim on Wednesday that it discriminates against women by effectively forcing them to give up their names in favor of their husbands’.

"The ruling was a blow to Japanese women seeking to keep their maiden names after marriage. Some couples have chosen not to register their marriages — opting instead to stay in common-law relationships with fewer legal protections — in order to keep separate surnames.
...
"The prohibition against separate surnames has survived decades of challenges in the courts and in Parliament, but it was the first time a suit seeking to overturn it had reached the Supreme Court. Ten of the court’s 15 justices ruled that the ban, first imposed in 1898, was consistent with constitutional protections for gender equality.

"Although the law does not specify which spouse’s surname must be used, wives adopt their husbands’ names in an estimated 95 percent of cases.

"The chief justice, Itsuro Terada, said the law did not impose an undue burden on women in part because they could continue using their maiden names in their professional lives, a practice that has become more widely accepted in recent years.

"The government began allowing married civil servants, for instance, to use their former surnames for official business in 2001.

“The issue of separate names for spouses should be debated in Parliament,” Justice Terada said, throwing the issue back to the legislature.

"The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have to calibrate its response carefully. Mr. Abe has positioned himself as an ally of working women, contending that Japan needs to keep more women in the labor force as its population shrinks and ages. But many members of his right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party support the surname law, and the party has quashed previous parliamentary initiatives aimed at changing it.

Newspaper surveys have shown that a slim majority of the public favors changing the law to allow couples to keep separate surnames."

A logistically complicated 14-person kidney exchange chain in Australia--with an aircraft failure--but a happy ending

There was an aircraft failure while one of the kidneys was being shipped:

One altruistic donor, six hospitals hundreds of specialists and seven transplant patient lives saved

"All 14 patients involved in Australia’s first seven-way paired kidney swap have ­recovered well after the transplants at Victoria’s Monash Medical Centre and Royal Melbourne and Austin hos­pitals, in co-ordination with NSW’s Westmead, Prince of Wales and John Hunter ­hospitals.

For five anxious hours, the team battled to overcome a “hiccup” when a malfunctioning aircraft was forced to return to Sydney mid-flight with a Melbourne-bound kidney, but still managed to complete the operations safely on ­November 19.

After three months’ planning, Australian Paired Kidney Exchange Program director Professor Paolo Ferrari said the transplants were “an amazing team effort”.

“It is always an effort when you have two, three, four or, in this case, seven,” Prof Ferrari said.

“Although this ­occurred recently, the actual match-up that told us there was a possibility for these ­patients to have a kidney transplant first came in ­August. Because of the excitement on that day — mostly ­because of the complexity of having all the centres involved and the little hiccup — there was a lot of tension.
...
"At 8am, simultaneous operations began in seven operating theatres in the three Melbourne and three Sydney hospitals, as the first stage to remove the kidneys from the donors.

The second-stage ­operations began at a Melbourne hospital at 12.23pm when an organ couriered across town was taken off the ice and implanted into a lucky recipient.

Five other synchronised transplants occurred progressively across the two cities over the afternoon as the kidneys arrived via Qantas flights and StarTrack couriers.

But a problem with an ­anaesthetic machine delayed one Sydney retrieval and the kidney had to be placed on a flight 30 minutes later than planned.

The problem was compounded when the aircraft developed its own issues mid-flight and had to return to Sydney with its precious cargo.

Five hours later, the kidney finally arrived in Melbourne still in good health, where the Austin Hospital team led by Associate Professor Frank Ierino was able to begin the final transplant at 9.30pm."