Aya Abe

Aya K. Abe was part of the Japanese research team for the project Political and Social Economy of Care (2006-2009). At the time of her collaboration, Abe was a senior researcher at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR), a research arm of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan. Her main field of research is poverty, social security and public assistance. She is one of the leading researchers on poverty and inequality in Japan, especially with regard to children, and her recent book, Child Poverty: Rethinking Fairness in Japan (Iwanami Shoten, 2008), has prompted political debate. She was awarded the Avon Award for Women in 2009, and the Nikkei Economic Literature Award in 2008 for her co-authored book Seikatu Hogo no Keizai Bunseki (Economics of Public Assistance, Tokyo University Press, 2008). She serves on numerous government committees.She studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received an MA and a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Selected recent publications in English: “Deprivation and Earlier Disadvantages in Japan.” Journal of Social Science Japan, (accepted, forthcoming).“Deprivation in Australia and Japan” Poverty and Public Policy, co-authored with Peter Saunders, (accepted, forthcoming).Child Poverty : Rethinking Fairness in Japan, Iwanami Shoten, 2008.Economics of Public Assistance, Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 2008. (with S. Kunieda, W.Suzuki & M.Hayashi)