Despite frequent discussions on regional variations in health care expenditure (HCE), few studies account for the sources of such regional disparities. This study bridges this gap in the literature by taking the following two steps. First, we explore the determinants of regional HCE in Japan,...

The Japanese government provides information on local fiscal performance through the Fiscal Index Tables for Similar Municipalities (FITS-M). The FITS-M categorize municipalities into groups of “similar†entities and provide them with the fiscal indices of their group members. Thus,...

　　 This study proposes decomposition and estimation methods that can be applied to analyze both regional stabilization and redistribution. The method proposed herein follows the approach taken by Shorrocks (1982), and applies it to per-capita level quantities of the relevant...

We obtain equivalent scales that allow for different number and age of children by estimating a system of demand functions with micro-data for Japanese households. We then compare the estimated scales to the equivalent scales based on the costs of living institutionally set out in the Japanese...

In the late 1940s, the Japanese economy transited to a market economy from an economy under the government planning and control, which had continued since the period of the Sino-Japanese War. This paper explored the impact of the transition on the micro-aspect of the economy, focusing on the...

　　 This study explores the effects of spousal allowances (SAs) in the Japanese system of personal income taxes, using the micro-simulation method based on the discrete choice model of labor supply. Our simulations show that the complete abolishment of SAs would increase the average...

This paper evaluates the 1999 national income tax reform in Japan by comparing the social marginal costs of public funds (SMCFs) for changing the marginal tax rates in different income brackets before the reform occurred. To do so, we estimate the discrete choice model of labor supply using a...

There are more than 1,700 municipalities serving as insurers in Japan's system of National Health Insurance (NHI). The NHI has several institutional routes to buffer local premiums from abrupt changes in regional health demands that destabilize the NHI benefit expenditures. After briefly...

Forecasting welfare caseloads has grown in importance in Japan because of their recent rapid increase. Given that the forecasting literature on welfare caseloads only focuses on US cases and utilizes limited classes of forecasting models, this study employs multiple alternative methods in order...

On the basis of the standard model of local public production, we delineate the factors that account for the "U-shaped" per capita local public expenditures and relate them to construct an efficiency indicator for local populations. We articulate that population-induced changes in the per capita...