Government expenditure cuts and voluntary activities of citizens: the experience of Japanese municipalities

Abstract

The governments of many OECD member countries have resorted to expenditure cuts as a significant response to the global economic crisis. While implementing the cuts, several governments have grown reliant on the voluntary sector in order to manage public services under austerity. Such reliance has not been studied comprehensively with reference especially to the link between the cuts and the voluntary activities of citizens. In response, this study examines the link in 604 Japanese municipalities based on an extensive survey of the local planning and community service departments of these municipalities. The study tests if there is an inverse effect of crowding-out and crowding-in when governments implement expenditure cuts. The findings show that the cuts have been complemented by increased involvement of citizen organisations in voluntary activities.

Keywords:

• Government expenditure cuts
• municipal government
• voluntary activities
• volunteering
• Japan

Acknowledgements

Sincere appreciation to all survey respondents in this study, and also to the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs at Indiana University and the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation for financial support for the study.

Notes

1. For example, in 2012, transfers accounted for approximately 45% of total revenues of all city, town and village-level governments (MIC, 2014a).

2. Municipalities in the areas affected by the great earthquake in 2011 were excluded; as were 21 special Tokyo wards because of their unique status as local governments. Relevant details on the survey and questionnaire, the municipalities addressed, the respondents and responses (including the issue of bias), and the related tests and checks are available from the author.

3. Japanese policy researchers generally send questionnaires to such departments when they need to ask a range of questions covering more than one policy area.

4. Where respondents indicated there are no community bus systems or intermediary activities held by any actors, the municipalities were excluded from the samples because there are no activities in which a citizen group could be engaged.

5. Total spending is the most highly correlated with the GPI among the five components: Pierson’s correlation is 0.998 and is statistically significant at the 99% level.

6. They include enactment of citizen participation ordinance; enactment of autonomy ordinance; collaboration policy with local citizens; implementation of neighbourhood autonomy organisation; establishing collaboration with local citizens as an official policy in organisational plans such as a comprehensive municipal plan; reform of support system for local neighbourhood organisations; and other specific supports.

7. This variable captures a three-year moving average of the GPI before the survey year.

8. The questionnaire listed four types of transportation infrastructure: Shinkansen train (bullet train) station; express train station of either JR (Japan Railway) or private railway; national road; and highway entrance/exit.

9. If citizens have access to more modes of transportation, they may not have strong incentives to be engaged in community bus provision. The questionnaire listed eleven types of commonly-used public transportation modes and probed how many of them are available in each municipality. Then, the number of available transportation options was counted.