慶應義塾大学　経済学部　PEARL入試　志望理由書　提出例(前多 康男先生ゼミ向け)

慶應義塾大学　経済学部　PEARL入試　志望理由書　提出例(前多 康男先生ゼミ向け)

Dr. Yasuo Maeda

Professor

Department of Economics, Macroeconomics

Keio University

Dear Professor Maeda,

I am writing this letter to explain my motivation in applying for Department of Economics at Keio University, specializing in Econometrics and related fields. As we are exposed to more information than ever, the need for us to truly understand and process them only get bigger. I have read a number of your published work which I was very intrigued by. I hope I am able to elaborate on area of studies that I think is very much relevant, and I would be more than grateful if you could kindly give this a consideration. 

Introduction
Japan is hesitantly moving toward a cashless society. According to the report from “Cashless Vision” compiled by a panel of experts under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, cashless systems at retail stores will save manpower at a time when Japan desperately needs to improve productivity amid a labor shortage and declining population. Also, shifting from cash to digital money will improve the transparency of money flows that will enable the government to collect taxes more accurately and efficiently. The cost of handling cash is increasingly worrying businesses, and Nomura Research Institute estimates such costs exceed as big as ¥1 trillion annually. Cashless tools such as credit-card and metrocard aren’t new to Japan, however, due to trust in cash, Japan has been slow on adopting cashless payment tools like the newly introduced payment apps compared to other developed countries.

Discussion
Although cash will remain the most used payment method, cash is no longer the king. In fact, economies that are more cash intensive are said to grow slowly and miss out on significant financial benefits. Economies that switch to digital are more successful; the switch can boost annual GDP by as much as 3 percentage annual, some research including BCG research shows. Numerous examples around the world illustrate how cashless payments are economic propellers. In example, Bangladesh’s bKash and Korea’s line pay, which facilitate transfers and credit card enabled payments via mobile phones, has spurred growth and boosted financial inclusion in that country. The upside comes not from more money but from digital’s role in simplifying the process of sending and receiving payments. Among advanced economies, Sweden and South Korea have moved steadily away from cash, where cash transactions in Sweden made up just less than 2% of the value of payments in 2018 which is very impressive. The result has been a shrinking gray economy, booming online commerce, and a sharp reduction in fraud. However, downside are seen as well, tech-centric rather than customer-centric solutions, lacking infrastructure, security risk, supressing shop revenue and so on.

Conclusion

With the prospect of our society becoming even more high tech and welcoming new innovations, it is crucial we understand interactive effects of new technologies and economic activities. I assume this can add a good case study and collect useful panel data points conducted in your seminar and I would love to take part. Thank you very much for taking the time to read and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

*Long-run Neutralized Effects of International Transfers on the Environment”,Keio Economic Studies，Vol.48, 1-20.（Joint Work with T. Ono）(2012)．*Cashless Payment Tools The Future of Retail Payment Remarks at the Seventh FinTech Forum (The English translation is based on the Japanese original) Yuichi Ikeda Executive Director of the Bank of Japan