The changing pattern of population distribution in Japan and its implications for developing countries

Interregional income differentials and migration: their interrelationships

"The major objective of this paper is to demonstrate that interregional income differential is exogenous to interregional net migration, but not conversely. Utilizing Japanese prefectural-based data for 1954-82, we conduct the following three kinds of analyses to confirm this statement. Firstly, a simple comparison of the crests of interregional time-series plots was made to see which occurred first. Secondly, Sims', 1972, test of causality was done to investigate causation between urban/rural income differential and net migration. Finally, per capita income and population share were examined by two-dimensional phase diagram for nine regions." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND GER)

Population stabilization and national spatial policy of public investment: the Japanese experience

"This paper presents a new method that can be used to reveal the policy objectives with which actual public investment decisions are consistent. Japanese regional investment expenditures from 1958 to 1978 are analyzed, and the dominant policies in effect during this period are identified using this method. A connection between Japanese regional public investment policies and the convergence of population growth across regions is suggested." The suitability of redistributive investment policies as a mechanism for the spatial stabilization of other populations experiencing rapid economic growth is noted.

Population redistribution towards core areas of less developed countries, 1950-1980

"This paper presents estimates of the rate of population redistribution to the core areas of 44 developing countries over the period 1950-80. Particular attention is given to the period 1970-80, a time during which the core areas of developed countries experienced substantial declines in their rates of net inmigration. The principal finding is that the core areas of most developing countries are still experiencing high and, in a number of cases, increasing rates of net inmigration." The author contends that "this finding confirms the developmental model of spatial concentration and dispersal and should lay to rest other explanations of deconcentration, including arguments that focus on diseconomies of absolute size in the core area or on fluctuations in the aggregate economy." The difference between the population growth rates of entire nations and of core areas is used as a measure of interregional migration. Data for the 44 countries and information on the data sources are included in appendixes.

Migration between core and peripheral regions: a description and tentative explanation of the patterns in 22 countries

"In the developed world at least, the century-long migration towards the high density core regions is over. To establish this thesis, internal migration statistics for 22 countries are examined, covering the period 1950-1979. Of these 22 countries, five categories are distinguished: (1) the countries of north-western Europe...; (2) the countries of North America...; (3) countries on the periphery of western Europe...[and] Japan and New Zealand; (4) the countries of eastern Europe...; and (5) two advanced developing countries in eastern Asia...." Migration trends among countries in the five categories are described, and a tentative explanation of these patterns is offered. "[An] appendix contains the data from which the figures in the text have been constructed, the exact sources from which the data have been taken, and the constituent administrative subdivisions of the regions chosen for study."