We construct quarterly series of the revenues, expenditures, and debt outstanding for Japan from 1980 to 2010, and analyze the sustainability of the fiscal policy. We pursue three approaches to examine the sustainability. First, we calculate the minimum tax rate that stabilizes the debt to GDP...

This paper empirically analyses for the first time the median voter hypothesis in Japan as a means of investigating whether or not Japanese prefectural finance reflects the preference of the median voter. The hypothesis is tested by estimating the demand functions of local public goods in each...

Managing fiscal policy—the revenues and spending of an individual nation—is among the most challenging tasks facing governments. Wealthy countries are constrained by complex regulation and taxation policies, while developing nations often face high inflation and trade taxes. In this volume,...

Economic indicators play a crucial role in shaping policy and strategy decisions in both the public and private sectors. However, as government indicators based on macroeconomic data are typically released one to two months later, there is a high demand for timely estimates of these values,...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainability issues of Japan's fiscal policy and then to discuss the debt management policy using theoretical models and numerical studies. We also investigate the desirable coordination of fiscal and monetary authorities toward fiscal reconstruction. We...

This paper investigates poverty traps with the Local Allocation Tax (LAT) grants in Japan. The LAT grants, which distributed to local governments by the central government, may be hesitated to make efforts for enhancing regional economic growth, due to the calculation of the LAT grants. We show...

This paper investigates how the soft budget constraint with grants from the central government to local governments tends to exaggerate inefficient local expenditures. We first develop a theoretical model, which explains soft budget problem in a multi-government setting. We then show that in...

This paper examines the financial health of the Fiscal Investment and Loan Program (FILP) as of the end of March 2001. We study the financial conditions of FILP recipients, which include public corporations and local governments. We find many are de facto insolvent. Our estimates suggest as much...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainability issues of Japan%u2019s fiscal policy and then to discuss the debt management policy using the theoretical models and numerical studies. We also investigate the desirable coordination of fiscal and monetary authorities toward fiscal...