ECONOMIC POLICY (JAPAN)

This is one of the main subjects of the master degree programme LEISAAM in the field of social sciences.

Knowledge and understanding:
-knowing the main institutional sources on public finance in Japan
-understanding the relationship bewteen demographic trends and public finance
-knowing the main features of the Japanese welfare state and its structural problems
-knowing policies implemented in Japan to reform the welfare state in the past twenty years.

Applying knowledge and understanding:
-using institutional sources to research data on public finance in Japan
-recognizing which long term processes affect financial planning
-understanding the political reasons of fiscal choices by successive administrations

Autonomous judgment:
-detecting information relevant to a research question, and organizing it so as to develop a consistent argumentation

Communication skils:
-discussing topics covered in the course with appropriate language
-presenting an issue in a concise and effective manner
-knowing how to write a reference list with appropriate style

-Basic knowledge of economic principles (LM5170 Principles of Economics or equivalent)
-Basic knowledge of the history of contemporary Japan (LT0340 History of Japan 2 or equivalent)

How to read institutional sources / Domestic conditions: population decline, family structure, labour market / The welfare state: models, characteristics of the Japanese system and its evolution / Health insurances and pensions / The income tax / The general consumption tax / Approaches to public finance, 2001-20: Koizumi, DPJ, Abe cabinets

A. Mandatory readings
-Conrad, Harald. 2017. “Social Policy Responses to the ‘Gap Society’: The Structural Limitations of the Japanese Welfare State and Related Official Discourses since the 1990s”. In Social Inequality in Post-Growth Japan: Transformation during Economic and Demographic Stagnation, pp. 121-33, ed. David Chiavacci, Carola Hommerich. Abingdon: Routledge. [pdf su Moodle]
-Funabashi, Yoichi; Koji Nakakita (eds.), 2024. Critical Review of the Abe Administration: Politics of Conservatism and Realism. Abingdon - New York: Routledge. Ch. 1 [pdf on Moodle]
-Funabashi, Yoichi; Koichi Nakano (eds.), 2017. The Democratic Party of Japan in Power. Challenges and Failures. Abingdon - New York: Routledge. Ch. 1, 3, 5 [pdf on Moodle]
-Kidera Hajime. 2017. “Shōhizei zōzei: Shakai hoshō tono ittai kaikaku”. In Futatsu no seiken kōtai: seisaku wa kawatta noka, pp. 152-79, ed. Takenaka Harukata. Tokyo: Keisō shobō. [pdf on Moodle]
-Mochida Nobuki. 2019. Nihon no zaisei to shakai hoshō: Kyūfu to futan no shōrai bijon. Tokyo: Tōyō keizai shinpōsha. Chs. 2, 5 (pp. 91-105), 6, 7. [pdf on Moodle]
-Yamasaki Shirō. 2017. Jinkō genshō to shakai hoshō: Koritsu to shukushō o norikoeru. Tokyo: Chūō kōron shinsha. Ch. 1 (pp. 11-33, 49-62), Ch. 2. [pdf on Moodle]

B. References for research on the Internet
Available on Moodle

Final written test: three questions based on the mandatory readings.
Attending students are also required to deliver a powerpoint presentation on an assigned topic.
Students who do not attend lessons should contact the professor at the start of the semester. A written report on an assigned topic will substitute the presentation.

Conventional, teamwork, discussion in class
Further readings and ppt presentations available on the Moodle platform.

Italian

The programme will not change throughout the academic year 2024-25.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development