With reference to the assumptions presented by Yamano and Ohkawara (J Reg Sci 40:205–229, <CitationRef CitationID="CR8">2000</CitationRef>) on the specification of a production function with region-specific individual effects on public capital, this paper introduces a new benchmark index in order to analyze the Japanese government’s...</citationref>

Public investment is a fundamental response of government to the existing imbalances between subnational regions. Especially, the question concerning the allocation policy of public investment more receives a great deal of public attentions along with the decentralization process, because...