I mentioned the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in my 'The 
internationalization of economics in Japan' (In _The Post-1945 Internationalization of 
Economics_, edited by A.W. Coats, Duke University Press, 1996). Probably mine is the only 
paper referred to the NBER activities in the volume.



In cooperation with NBER and the Center for Economic Policy Research, England, the Tokyo 
Center for Economic Research (TCER) has organized annual international conferences since 
1987. TCER was (is) one of the few private efforts for promoting empirical, econometric 
studies in Japan.



TCER helped make macro-econometric models in the late 1950s and 1960s, and has held an 
annual conference on current topics since 1963. It supported a wide variety of 
inter-collegiate exchanges of research activities, including weekly meetings held in the 
Tokyo City area.



TCER also supports a seminar on the East Asian economy, which was first promoted by NBER, 
and holds conferences on the economic connections between the U.S., East Asia and Japan 
under the auspices of NBER, the Korean Development Institute and the Chung-Hua Institution 
for Economic Research, Taiwan.



>From the similar perspective, I also pay attention to the Economic Research Institute for 
ASEAN & East Asia (ERIA), which was established a few months ago. ERIA is expected to 
beccome an East Asian version of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development 
(OECD) in the future.



International comparative studies in empirical research need the same definitions for 
economic statistics and the economic language across national boundaries. Historians of 
economics usually need tp get hearings from contemporary economists to get the 
understanding of the contexts in empirical studies and the significance of individual or 
institutional efforts in this area.



Aiko Ikeo