ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines changes in central spending commitments on various policy areas and by ministry, from the early 1950s to 1980. Japan’s restored independence of 1952 would ultimately be a test of the Japanese economy’s ability to stand on its own feet. In Japan, central bureaucrats acknowledge that there is no other way of meeting the needs of increasing state activity apart from assigning a large part of the tasks to local authorities. The chapter examines how the central government enforces on local governments its policy preferences for administrative integration, which is necessary to cope with the expansion of state activities. The 1950 National Development Law was followed by the enactment of related laws for regional development. A case of overburdening occurs when a centrally established standard cost is exceeded by the actual cost or when the central government’s actual share of certain expenses is underpaid in spite of its centrally established standard cost.
