Restoration from Earthquake Damage and Growth Strategies of the Japanese Regional Economy

This research aims at presenting evidence for policy discussions regarding two important issues for the current Japanese regional economy. Related to the restoration from earthquake damage, we study: (1) whether the "group subsidy," introduced to assist the restoration of damaged productive assets by the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011), has been able to choose beneficiaries appropriately through targeting and (2) the impact of a large natural disaster on the exit and entry of firms, which eventually transformed industrial agglomeration and the local economy in general in the affected area from the experience of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (1995). As for the regional growth strategy, we investigate: (3) the recent correlation between increasing demographic concentration and declining patent application and explore the viability of the growth strategy through a geographic dispersion of research and development; and (4) the transformation of supply chains and production distribution between overseas and within the country, while the latter is further divided between metropolitan and peripheral areas, and discuss what policy measures should be taken in each area.

July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2015