In this paper, the public burden for physical check-up of pregnant women is considered. This is a public expense that must be implemented by local governments independently. Public expenditure in this regard may be determined strategically by local governments to take into account the public...

This paper explores the mutual reference behavior of local governments in Japan. The Japanese public education system was decentralized in the previous decade. For example, actual fixed number of classes was relaxed in 2001 and 2003. This relaxation of regulations caused an increase in the...

With the data of 831 Japanese water utilities from 1999 to 2008, we used the stochastic cost frontier analysis with a true fixed-effect model in order to estimate the cost efficiency and scale economies. We found that cost inefficiency was approximately 37%. The economies of water delivery...

Under the current fiscal conditions in many local, regional as well as the national government, the public schools face the substantial budget short falls . In order to alleviate the substantial budget shortage, it is important to raise efficiency, particularly in primary education as the costs...

In April 2008, specialization in gynecology and obstetrics departments was introduced in the Sennan area of Osaka prefecture in Japan that aimed at solving the problems of regional provisions of obstetrics services (e.g., shortage of obstetricians, overworking of obstetricians, and provision of...

The long-term care facility service cost suddenly increases since the start of the nursing-care insurance system and will be increasing with the advancing aging in future. The cared periods are prolonged as the average life span of the elderly person lengthens. The family function is weakening...