Assessing the regulatory reform for the urban-gas industry in Japan

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03466
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic policy
• Research Institution: Hosei University
• Principal Investigator: MYOJO Satoshi 法政大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (70455426)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 田中 拓朗 一般財団法人電力中央研究所, 社会経済研究所, 特定主任研究員 (90790296)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 都市ガス産業 / 規制緩和 / 競争政策 / 太陽光発電 / 補助金

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project focuses on the regulatory reform for the urban-gas industry implemented after 1990 in Japan. We constructed two sets of panel data on the urban-gas companies and the local governments and then evaluated the impact of a series of policy changes on their economic activities and performances. Our empirical analyses include an assessment of the productivity and entry decision of the firms and the privatization of gas sector of the local governments. While our empirical results generally showed a progress of introducing competition in the regulated industry, we also found some future tasks necessary for the competition policies to achieve economic efficiency and transparency of the market.

Free Research Field

産業組織