Accessibility to the nearest urban metropolitan area and rural poverty in Japan

Takeru Sugasawa

No 94, DSSR Discussion Papers from Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University

Abstract: The study examines the effects of accessibility to the nearest urban metropolitan area on rural poverty by using Japanese municipality-level data. We conduct nationwide cross-sectional analyses, and find that a larger time distance to the nearest urban metropolitan area significantly increases regional poverty rates. In addition, the study focuses on opening of new commuting train, Tsukuba Express (TX), connecting Tokyo and Ibaraki prefecture, a suburban area of Tokyo. We conduct municipality-level panel analyses, and the results suggest that opening TX reduced rural poverty rates of the surrounding areas, but the effects required 6-10 years to be observed. Therefore, regional policy makers might need to consider that transportation investments that improve inter-regional accessibility do not affect regional economic performance for several years.

Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2019-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:toh:dssraa:94

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