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Economic Analysis of Families and Society pp 195–212Cite as

Regional Disparity

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Part of the book series: Advances in Japanese Business and Economics ((AJBE,volume 16))

Abstract

The population of rural Japan has been aging and declining at a rapid rate. There are many rural areas where the elderly ratio exceeds 50% and their sustainability is under doubt.

Even the prosperous inevitably decay.

Humane King Sutra

Humane King Sutra is one of the East Asian Buddhist scriptures.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For more information about the current system and issues of local governments in Japan, see Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (2015). For its history and structural problems, see Steiner (1965).

  2. 2.

    The names of prefectures corresponding to the curve for 1955 are not the same as those of the columns for 2015. However, there are little changes in the population ranking among prefectures.

  3. 3.

    In administrative terms, the “depopulating area” is defined as an area that satisfies one of the following conditions: (1) the rate of population decline from 1960 to 1995 exceeds 30%; (2) the rate of population decline from 1960 to 1995 exceeds 25%, and either (i) the ratio of people above 65 years of age exceeds 24% or (ii) the ratio of people from 15 to 30 years of age is less than 15%; (3) the rate of population decline from 1970 to 1990 exceeds 19%; and (4) the fiscal capability index is less than 0.42.

  4. 4.

    A moral hazard problem occurs when there are generous systems of redistribution or insurance. A soft budget problem occurs when the principal (e.g., national government) rescues the agents (e.g., local governments).

  5. 5.

    In Fig. 10.4, per-capita expenditure and per-capita revenue of each local government is depicted by a point. For example, if the elderly ratio of a municipal government is 20%, its per-capita expenditure and per-capita revenue is respectively depicted by a point locating at 20% on the horizontal axis. The gap between the two points (i.e., fiscal gap) will not be so large when the elderly ratio is 20%. However, in the process of the population ageing, the elderly ratio of the municipal government will go up and its fiscal gap is likely to expand as Fig. 10.4 suggests. As most local governments will be ageing, points in Fig. 10.4 will move to the right and the total fiscal gap will be expanded further.

  6. 6.

    Lee et al. (2016) has analyzed the migration behavior of the people suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and found that attachment to home and hometowns play an important role in keeping them stay at the damaged area. However, if people lose their personal network, they show higher intension to leave the damaged area. Shimada (2015) also studied the migration behavior after disasters and obtained similar results. These findings suggest the importance of social capital in the residential choice although the analyses are made for unusual disaster cases.

  7. 7.

    See Akai (2015) for more information and discussion on the Japanese local government system.

  8. 8.

    The expected expenditure is called “standard fiscal needs” and the expected revenue is called “standard fiscal revenue.”

  9. 9.

    For example, the total fertility rate in Tokyo in 2015 was estimated at 1.17, which is far below the national average 1.46, and the population sustaining level at 2.07.

  10. 10.

    If the healthy conditions are achieved in the rigion, even the small towns and villages in extremely rural areas will be sustainable.

  11. 11.

    Such regional policies to develop the regional urban city will face difficulty when there are 47 prefectures because only prefectures with regional urban cities will be strengthened and thus other prefectures will go against such policies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of International and Public Policy, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Tokyo, Japan

    Shinji Yamashige

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  1. Shinji Yamashige
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Correspondence to Shinji Yamashige .

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Yamashige, S. (2017). Regional Disparity. In: Economic Analysis of Families and Society. Advances in Japanese Business and Economics, vol 16. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55909-2_10

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