CVProfessor at Faculty of Economics, Keio Univesity
Welcome! I'm Keita Abe, a Professor at Keio University's Faculty of Economics, specializing in marine resource and environmental economics. My work addresses fisheries management, harvester behavior, and seafood market dynamics.
I'm actively involved in organizing J-TREE.
Join me in exploring the sustainable management of oceanic resources through research and collaboration.
The fields of research: Natural Resource Economics, Applied Microeconometrics
Find my publications from here.
Harvesters Behavior in Fisheries
To measure economic impacts of natural resource management policy, we need good models that address harvesters' response to the policy change. My research is about developing models of harvester behavior, particularly focusing on the dynamic aspect of their decisions. We assume that harvesters maximize their objective functions, such as profit or utility, by choosing their decision variables. Harvesters have a wide range of margins, and the importance of each margin depends on fisheries and context. Abe and Anderson (2020) modeled harvesters’ choice on fishing trip duration using daily catch data and dynamic discrete choice model. In Abe, Anderson and Reimer (2020), seasonal dynamics in quota use allocation in Alaskan pollock fishery is investigated.
Landing Market Analysis
In fisheries resource economics, landing market analysis plays an big role. It determinesthe price formation, and the market power influence the price formation. Such price affectsfishes behavior, so is management outcome. Matuski et al. (2020), we estimate the rentgained by the buyers using structural auction estimation method, and discuss the indirecteffect of market structure on the use of the resources.
International Trade and Marine Resource
As more seafood products are consumed all over the world, the overuse of transboundaryfisheries stocks has become a serious issue. In general, such resources are under themanagement of regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), comprised by thecountries harvesting the shared stock. Economic management of internationally shared fishstocks has faced difficulty due to their nature as common property at the international leveland transboundary stock mobility. While many studies pay attention to supply side inshared fish stocks, consumers in different countries also “share” fish stocks throughinternational trade. Accordingly, my research interest in this context is at the intersection ofinternational trade and fisheries resources. In Abe et al. (2017), we show that the tradeintensity of a country decreases the harvest. While this model adopts the country level capital and labor as a source of comparative advantage, I aim to develop the model byincorporating dynamic stock abundance as a source of comparative advantage.
Fisheries Management in Japan
Japanese fisheries industry has been considered as declining industry for a long time. Thefisheries used to be an industry that support local employment given the abundant resourcestocks. It confronts the declining stocks, incomes, and recruitment of young workers. Whatcan we do to revive Japanese fisheries? To lead Japanese fisheries to success, we need tofind successful cases in the unique environment, culture and context of Japanese fisheriesas model cases. “Success” needs to be defined and explored in terms of defining factors. Ageneral definition of successful fisheries is discussed in a context of triple bottom line,which consists of natural resources/environmental, economic, and community/socialsustainability. There are, however, no clear criteria for these three aspects as the successdepends on the local context. In this project, we explore the currently succeeding fisheriesby survey and through discussion with interdisciplinary scholars to find the locally specificdefinitions and factors in order to apply them to measure that leads to success.
Marine Resource Management and Regional Development
Even though triple-bottom-line is emphasized in the context of marine resourcemanagement, recent management policies which based on rights-based management haspromoted economic efficiency and biological sustainability, but not much of social equality.A potential issue is that small coastal communities are exposed to threats as fishing quotasare flowing out from the area due to its transferability. This may not only reduce fishingactivity, but also the general economic activity and population as fishery may be vital tosupport local economy. We investigate how recent rights-based management changed thegeographical distribution of fishing activity and resulting economic outcomes in the region,using the data of Norway.
Norwegian Fisheries
Norwegian fisheries are increasingly mentioned as one model that Japan should emulate. While it's true they have succeeded in various aspects, there are also challenges that are not covered by the media. In particular, Norway's quota-based management system has achieved resource conservation and improved economic efficiency, but faces challenges in social areas such as maintaining and developing coastal communities. Abe, Nøstbakken & Wold (2024) demonstrated through data analysis that the Structural Quota Scheme (SQS) implemented especially for coastal cod fisheries has caused a reduction in fishing vessels, which in turn has led to long-term concentration of quotas among larger fishermen and in certain regions. Additionally, Abe, Diekert, Melsom, & Langangen (2024) showed through analysis combining ecological model predictions of spawning locations and catch data that Norwegian cod fisheries determine fishing grounds based on habits and geographical/economic conditions, rather than necessarily changing fishing patterns to follow changes in fish distribution. From this, they pointed out the possibility that fisheries might not be able to adapt immediately when fish distributions change due to climate change.
| Keio University | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 19825 | Environmental Economics a | 2026- Spring |  |
| 49335 | Environmental Economics b | 2026- Autumn | |
| 76867 | Economy and Environment | 2026- Spring | |
| 16827 | Environmental Economics (Graduate) | 2026- Spring | |
| Musashi University | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| K0090 | Environmental Economics 1 | 2022-2025 Spring | |
| K0100 | Environmental Economics 2 | 2022-2025 Autumn | |
| K1910 | Ocean Economy | 2022-2023 Autumn | |
| K6090 | Fisheries Economic | 2023 Spring | |
| Iwate University | |||
| FISH | Fisheries Resource Management (Adjunct) | 2023-2025 Spring | |
| FISH | Institutions of Fisheries Management (Adjunct) | 2023-2025 Autumn | |
| Norwegian School of Economics | |||
| SAM20 | Economics of Resource Rich Countries | Fall 2020-2022 | |
| ECO439 | Resource Economics | Spring 2019-2022 | |
| ECO429 | The Economics of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management | Spring 2021-2022 | |
| University of Washington | |||
| ECON200 | Principles of Microeconomics | Fall 2017 | |
| ECON201 | Principles of Macroeconomics | Spring 2017 | |
| University of British Colombia (Teaching Assistant) | ||
|---|---|---|
| ECON371 | Economics of the Environment | Winter 2012 |
| ECON370 | Cost-Benefit Analysis | Summer 2013 |
In Japan, a seminar is a small research group that students stay in for two or more years under the same professor.
Over their junior and senior years, students study resource and environmental economics and build the ability to analyze data and answer questions of their own. Recruitment and the selection schedule are handled by the Faculty seminar committee. The seminar is taught in Japanese, though I can give individual support in English.
The work rests on four pillars.
In the senior year, each student writes a graduation thesis on a topic of their own. This is required.
What I look for is not prior knowledge of economics or statistics, but a genuine interest in getting your hands on data and thinking for yourself. No programming experience is needed; we start from scratch.
Fisheries and marine resource economics
I welcome students who want to work on questions close to my own research: the economics of fisheries management and of seafood markets. If your interest lies in an adjacent part of resource and environmental economics — energy, biodiversity, and so on — I am glad to talk, but fisheries and marine resources are where I can supervise you best.
Undergraduate
Master's
Doctoral
If you are considering applying to the master's or doctoral program, please email me at keita.abe@keio.jp before you apply. It helps if you attach:
Please note that I may not reply to mass emails with only the address changed, or to messages that show no familiarity with what I actually work on.
