Making Fiscal Policy In Japan

This study aims to explain the role and performance of fiscal policy as an integral component of macroeconomic policy, and the attendant effects on economic growth. The case explored here is post-World War II Japan, but the approach is one of international comparison. Ishi traces and analyzes the central features of postwar Japanese fiscal policy and considers the institutional framework and policy objectives which shaped the budget process.

The first part of the book provides a detailed overview of the topic, with institutional and empirical information. Part II explains the basic framework of budgets and the budgetary process in Japan and fundamental strategies of fiscal authority. It looks in depth at the unique aspects of the balanced budget policy for 1953-65 and then at how financial resources for budgeting were automatically generated in a growing economy.

Review: Ishi provides the reader with important insights into why things worked well in the past but have gone terribly wrong more recently ... the volume provides important background for those seeking to understand how fiscal policy-making has worked in the past in Japan. Moreover, in clarifying the nature of this process, the volume helps illuminate the salience of changes either underway or at the centre of debate today.

Social Science Japan Journal An important strength of the volume as a whole is its placement of Japan's experiences in a comparative context. Social Science Japan Journal The book excels in two tasks. The first section does a nice job of contextualizing Japan's fiscal policy within its experience of rapid post-war growth.

More importantly, the book provides a clear description of Japan's complicated fiscal system, which includes a variety of special accounts, revenue sources, and intergovernmental transfers ... delivered in a clear and rigorous manner. Political Studies