IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/61333.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Local Government Investments and Ineffectiveness of Fiscal Stimulus during Japan's Lost Decades

Author

Listed:
  • Funashima, Yoshito
  • Horiba, Isao
  • Miyahara, Shoichi

Abstract

This paper provides an explanation of the reason why previous works suggest that the effect of fiscal stimulus measure is, if any, small during the lost decades in Japan. To show this, it focuses on public investment by local governments which occupies a substantial portion of the total investment. Specifically, we divide it into subsidized and non-subsidized expense, and empirically study the differences between their decision-making processes from the perspective of fiscal stimulus measures. The results of this analysis reveal that subsidized expense is countercyclical to the economic situation of the nation as a whole, but on the other hand, no connection with business cycles is seen at prefectural level. Contrastingly, non-subsidized expense shows no reaction to the state of the macro economy. In the 2000s, in particular, it is shown to be procyclical in relation to economic fluctuation at prefectural level, due to the fiscal rigidity of local governments. Based on the fact that the majority of Japan's public investment is carried out by local governments, it becomes clear that, as a problem prior to the evaluation of its policy effects, public investment is not implemented with adequate timing to offset business cycles in the first place.

Suggested Citation

  • Funashima, Yoshito & Horiba, Isao & Miyahara, Shoichi, 2015. "Local Government Investments and Ineffectiveness of Fiscal Stimulus during Japan's Lost Decades," MPRA Paper 61333, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:61333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/61333/1/MPRA_paper_61333.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mera, Koichi, 1973. "II. Regional production functions and social overhead capital: An analysis of the Japanese case," Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 157-185, May.
    2. Bayoumi, Tamim, 2001. "The morning after: explaining the slowdown in Japanese growth in the 1990s," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 241-259, April.
    3. Miyazaki, Tomomi, 2009. "Public investment and business cycles: The case of Japan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 419-426, September.
    4. Michael Artis & Toshihiro Okubo, 2011. "The intranational business cycle in Japan," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 111-133, January.
    5. Hashem Pesaran, M. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2008. "Testing slope homogeneity in large panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 50-93, January.
    6. Lane, Philip R., 2003. "The cyclical behaviour of fiscal policy: evidence from the OECD," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2661-2675, December.
    7. Sorensen, Bent E. & Wu, Lisa & Yosha, Oved, 2001. "Output fluctuations and fiscal policy: U.S. state and local governments 1978-1994," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1271-1310.
    8. Howard J. Wall, 2007. "Regional business cycle phases in Japan," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 89(Jan), pages 61-80.
    9. Tomomi Miyazaki & Haruo Kondoh, 2017. "Local Public Investment and Regional Business Cycle Fluctuations in Japan," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 402-410.
    10. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles, 2013. "The cyclicality of education, health, and social security government spending," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 669-672, May.
    11. Takero Doi & Toshihiro Ihori, 2009. "The Public Sector in Japan," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12752.
    12. Ms. Anita Tuladhar & Markus Bruckner, 2010. "Public Investment as a Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence from Japan’s Regional Spending During the 1990s," IMF Working Papers 2010/110, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Yoshito Funashima, 2013. "Public investment, economic stabilization, and regionally discordant business cycles in Japan: Toward an effective fiscal stimulus," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(2), pages 931-943.
    14. James R. Hines Jr., 2010. "State Fiscal Policies and Transitory Income Fluctuations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 41(2 (Fall)), pages 313-350.
    15. Yoshito Funashima, 2012. "Counter-cyclical policy and political manipulation: An empirical analysis of Japanese government expenditures," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 1902-1913.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:kob:wpaper:1624 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Yoshito Funashima, 2018. "Macroeconomic policy coordination between Japanese central and local governments," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1631-1651, June.
    3. Tomomi Miyazaki & Haruo Kondoh, 2017. "Local Public Investment and Regional Business Cycle Fluctuations in Japan," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 402-410.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tomomi Miyazaki, 2018. "Interactions between regional public and private investment: evidence from Japanese prefectures," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(1), pages 195-211, January.
    2. Tomomi Miyazaki & Haruo Kondoh, 2017. "Local Public Investment and Regional Business Cycle Fluctuations in Japan," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 402-410.
    3. Funashima, Yoshito, 2015. "Governmentally amplified output volatility," MPRA Paper 65330, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Funashima, Yoshito, 2016. "Governmentally amplified output volatility," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 462(C), pages 469-478.
    5. Funashima, Yoshito, 2014. "Macroeconomic policy coordination between Japanese central and local governments," MPRA Paper 59821, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Miyazaki, Tomomi, 2013. "Fiscal Policy and Regional Business Cycle Fluctuations in Japan," Discussion Paper Series 583, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Yoshito Funashima, 2018. "Macroeconomic policy coordination between Japanese central and local governments," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1631-1651, June.
    8. repec:kob:wpaper:1624 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Jalles, João Tovar, 2021. "Dynamics of government spending cyclicality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 411-427.
    10. Luca Agnello & Ricardo M. Sousa, 2009. "The Determinants of Public Deficit Volatility," NIPE Working Papers 11/2009, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    11. Fabio Canova & Evi Pappa, 2006. "Does It Cost to Be Virtuous? The Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Constraints," NBER Chapters, in: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2004, pages 327-370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Garnov & A. & Zvyagin & L. & Sviridova & O., 2019. "System Data Analysis: Innovative Technologies, Methods and Techniques," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(Special 1), pages 26-39.
    13. António Afonso & Luca Agnello & Davide Furceri, 2010. "Fiscal policy responsiveness, persistence, and discretion," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 503-530, December.
    14. Colin Hunt, 2005. "Discretion and Cyclicality in Irish Budgetary Management 1969-2003," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 36(3), pages 295-321.
    15. Deepak Kumar Behera & Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & Umakant Dash, 2020. "Cyclicality of public health expenditure in India: role of fiscal transfer and domestic revenue mobilization," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 87-110, March.
    16. Svec Justin & Kondo Ayako, 2012. "Fiscal Policy Cyclicality and Growth within the US States," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-35, March.
    17. Barseghyan, Levon & Battaglini, Marco & Coate, Stephen, 2013. "Fiscal policy over the real business cycle: A positive theory," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(6), pages 2223-2265.
    18. Luis N. Lanteri, 2016. "La política fiscal en economías exportadoras de materias primas. Evidencia para Argentina," Economic Analysis Working Papers (2002-2010). Atlantic Review of Economics (2011-2016), Colexio de Economistas de A Coruña, Spain and Fundación Una Galicia Moderna, vol. 1, pages 1-1, June.
    19. Jalles, João Tovar, 2020. "Social expenditure cyclicality: New time-varying evidence in developing economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    20. Heimberger, Philipp, 2023. "The cyclical behaviour of fiscal policy: A meta-analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    21. Jing Xing & Clemens Fuest, 2018. "Central-local government fiscal relations and cyclicality of public spending: evidence from China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 946-980, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Local governments; Public investment; Subsidized expense; Non-subsidized expense; Lost decades;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:61333. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.