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- Convenor:
-
Harukata Takenaka
(National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Trevor Incerti
(University of Amsterdam)
- Discussant:
-
Kay Shimizu
(University of Pittsburgh)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Economics, Business and Political Economy
- Location:
- Lokaal 2.23
- Sessions:
- Saturday 19 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel explores the evolution of policy formulation under the Abe, Suga, and Kishida administrations in the field of of economic statecraft, technology, child care s and local economy promotion and examines continuity and changes in respective policies among three administrations.
Long Abstract:
The objective of this panel is to examines natures of policies formulated under the Abe, Suga and Kishida administrations in the field of political economy. Two major pieces of research have already examined policies formulated by the Abe administration (Hoshi and Lipscy 2020, API 2021). The policies, however, under the Suga and Kishida administrations have been so far left for scholarly examination probably due to the fact not so much time have passed since the end of the Abe administration. Yet, the Suga administration has left some accomplishment such as the introduction of the Digital Agency while the Kishida administration has also already left some tangible policy results such as the legislation of economic security law. Thus, it has already become possible to trace the evolution of policies under the three administrations and examine whether policies in diverse areas have basically developed in line with directions set up by the Abe Administration or have gone through abrupt changes.
This panel explores the evolution of policy formulation under the Abe, Suga, and Kishida administrations in the field of political economy. More concretely, it picks up areas of economic statecraft, technology, child care s and local economy promotion and examines continuity and changes in respective policies among three administrations.
The first paper traces the evolution of economic statecraft by the three administrations, examining how they prepared legislation for economic security policies and promoted semi-conductor industry. The second paper examines the development of technology policies and examines if government policy on semi-conductor has been really effective. The third paper covers the development of child care policies in recent decades and examines changes in the nature of child care policies under the three administrations. The fourth paper analyzes various local economy promotion policies pursued by the three administrations.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 19 August, 2023, -Harukata Takenaka (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo)
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims at tracing implementation of economic statecraft by the Abe, Suga and Kishida administrations in recent years. It analyzes legislation of economic security law, promotion of semi-conductor industry and expansion of financial resources for research by the three administrations.
Paper long abstract:
Evolution of Japanese security policy has attracted much attention (e.g. Chijiwa 2022, Green 2022, Miyagi 2016, Oros 2017, Smith 2019, Takenaka 2022). The existing literature demonstrate how Japanese adminsitrations have gradually expanded range of security policies dispatch of the SDF abroad, the excerise of the right of collective defense and security cooperation with other countries than the US.
Since 2020 the Japanese administrations have begun to formulate economic security policy in earnest, expanding the scope of security policy to the field of econony. There are several preliminary pieces of reseaerch on Japanese economic state craft (e.g. Kitamura 2022, Kokubun 2020). While Kitamura provides brief explanaiton of economic security legislation of 2020,, these pieces of research provide basic information as regard to economic statecraft and do not discuss why and how Japanese administrations have formulated economic statecraft in recent years.
This paper aims at tracing formation and implementation of economic statecraft by the Japanese administrations in recent years. More concretely, it explains three policies pursued by the recent administrations to enhance Japanese security in the field of economy.
First, it demonstrates that the Abe, the Suga and the Kishida administrations has provided legal foundation to enhance Japanese security in the field of economy by preparing "Economic Security" legislation. Second, it explores how the three administrations have revitalized industrial policy to revive semi-conductor industry. They invited to Taiwan's TSMC to set up a new semi-conductor factory in Japan. They have also cooperated with the industrial sector to set up a new private company to start production of high-end logic semi-conductors. Third, they have implemented various policies to increase the size of financial resources spent on research and development.
Japan has been reluctant to employ industrial policy since 1990s. This paper sheds new light on Japanese policy in the field of economy to demonstrate that Japan in fact revitalized industrial policy as a mean of economic statecraft.
Yuki Tsuji (Tokai University)
Paper short abstract:
Prime Minister Kishida recently announced that he will take a huge step for drastic expansions of childcare support programs. This paper analyzes the party politics over childcare policies in Japan since the 2000s, with special attention to the parties’ ideological stance on gender and families.
Paper long abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the party politics over childcare policies in Japan since the 2000s, with special attention to the parties’ ideological stance on gender and families.
Japanese governments have implemented various measures to counter the declining birthrates since the 1990s, but they have not achieved much successes. The news of a further decrease in the number of childbirths of the previous year during Covid-19 pandemic seems to have further devastated political actors. In the press conference at the beginning of new year, Prime Minister Kishida announced that his administration will take a huge step for drastic expansions of childcare support programs. Kishida’s statement revitalized debates in and outside the Diet over desired childcare policies and their impacts on people’s decision-making for having children.
Policy discussions regarding childcare support programs, including provisions of childcare services and cash benefits for families with children, contain many issues. The author puts focus on gender dimensions of childcare policy debates, especially on political parties’ stance for the redistribution of childcare responsibilities between state and family, and between women and men. In some countries, competition between political parties has brought about the defamilialization of childcare (Estevez-Abe 2014), but the case was more complicated in Japan. The political rivalry between the center-right Liberal Democratic Party and the center-left Democratic Party of Japan in the 2000s put off an introduction of the universal childcare allowance. However, some of the senior LDP members seems to have changed their stances on this issue recently. Tracing the past and present debates between parties and party politicians, the paper examines the reasons behind the childcare policy developments in Japan. In particular, it traces the evolution of child care policies under the DPJ adminsitrations, namely, Hatoyama, Kan and Noda administrations as well as the LDP administartions, namely, Abe, Suga and Kishida to examine how nature of child care policies have changed among different adminsitrations.
Hajime Kidera (Meiji University ( Japan ))
Paper short abstract:
This paper addresses how the central government has been changing the nature as well as the amount of financial assistance to local governments to develop local economies from the Second Abe administration through the Kishida administration.
Paper long abstract:
There is abundant literature on the relationship between central government and local governments (Muramatsu, 2021). In patricular, various scholras have examined the transfer of financial resources from the cetnral government to local government (Kameda, Lu and Fukui, 2022). Yet, there is much room to explore how the nature of tranfer have changed in recent years after the LDP made a come back to power in 2012. Thus, this paper addresses how the central government has been changing the nature as well as the amount of financial assistance to local governments to develop local economies from the Second Abe administration through the Kishida administration.
As widely known, the central government provide financial resources to the local governments through Local Allocation Taxes (chiho kofu zei).
This paper first examines effects on population aging on the transfer from central governments to local governments in recent years. The size of the elderly population affects the transfer and as the size of elderly population has been growing more rapidly in urban area than in local area, there may be more transfer to local governments in urban area than to those in local areas. In other words the distribution of Local Allocation Taxes might have shifted from local areas to urban areas.
Then this paper examines how policies by the three administrations targeted to promote economies of local areas have affected the size of transfer. Here are some major policies pursued by the three adminsitrations.
From 2014, the Abe administration began to formulate local revitalization policies and in FY 2016, introduced Local Revitalization Subsidies to promote growth of local economies. In FY 2020, the Suga administration created "Expenditures for Community Revitalization Projects" to assist local governments who face decline in population. Furthermore, the Kishida administration launched "Digital Rural City Initiative from its outset and aims to promote digital transformation of local areas. It also has made explicit that the government will consider the amount of My Number Card issuances when it calculates the amount of financial resources which the central government will transfer to the local governments.
Mariko Togashi (International Institute for Strategic Studies)
Paper short abstract:
This paper assesses the impact of Japan's economic security policy on its technology and industrial policy. This empirical research will take a close look at the policies and trends during the Abe, Suga and Kishida administrations and the recent economic security policy developments.
Paper long abstract:
Economic security policy made Japan’s technology and industrial policy more strategic by either accelerating existing shifts or generating new trends. The magnitude of economic security policy, both in terms of size and pace, is significant. Economic security policy impacted technology policy in four ways: Economic security policy (1) has made the targeting more specific, (2) may bring a step change in Japan’s defence technology R&D, (3) has brought the industry and technology policy closer, and (4) has made international cooperation in the technology area more open but more selective. Japan’s economic security policy is also impacting its industrial policy in three ways: Economic security policy (1) has reinvigorated Japan’s industrial policy, (2) is driving the reshaping of Japan’s industrial policy, and (3) has changed the way how industrial policy supports the industry from specific technologies to the whole supply chain. There are two major implications for other countries’ economic security policymaking. First, Japan’s economic security policy demonstrates that it gives momentum to other policies, implying the potential to break the barriers that other policies have been facing for some time. This calls specific attention to the potential side effects and opportunity costs in economic security policymaking to avoid transferring resources to uncompetitive sectors without knowing so. Second, the way that economic security policy is making technology and industrial policy more strategic in Japan indicates that a country’s leverage is important. Countries should know in which sector they should enhance indispensability and autonomy to allocate resources efficiently.