Faculty

Hiroshi Ono is Professor of Human Resource Management at Hitotsubashi ICS, and Affiliated Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University. He writes and speaks extensively about the relationships among human capital, happiness, and productivity in the workplace. He has a special interest in the interplay between demographic change and labor market dynamics in Japan. He received his BE in mechanical engineering from Waseda University and his MA and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He was later awarded Docent (equivalent to a second doctoral degree) in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Professor Ono joined ICS in 2014. His broad international experience includes professional and academic positions in the U.S., Sweden, and Japan. He is a frequent contributor and commentator for Japanese and global news media, both print and broadcast. He is the author of two books, including Human Capital and the Economic Analysis of Human Behavior (In Japanese, Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha Shuppansha, 2024), which was ranked second among the best economics books published in 2024 by Diamond Publishing, and Redistributing Happiness: How Social Policies Shape Life Satisfaction (with Kristen Schultz Lee, Praeger Publishing, 2016). His work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Asian Business & Management, Oxford Economic Papers, Social Forces, and Social Science Quarterly, among others. Professor Ono’s work has won recognition in business-oriented settings including Best International Paper Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association and Top 20 Paper Award from the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research.