Empirical Analysis of Administrative and Financial Systems for Utilizing Infrastructure Assets of Local Governments: A study of the governance systems in operation at regional airports (Japanese)

To meet the increasing diversity of needs arising in Japan's aging society, there need to be reforms to build a means for local authorities to implement efficiently, on their own initiative, and at their own responsibility, administrative and financial management within their jurisdictions. To achieve this it is essential to ensure the efficient use of infrastructure assets, and given that an airport constitutes an important infrastructure assets it is necessary to develop a flexible system in order to revitalize local economies. Based on this reality, in this paper we conduct research on a variety of related topics. First, as a means of evaluating central government-administered airport governance systems we assess the Airport Improvement Special Account and measure its efficiency by focusing on financial accounting. Second, as an example of local government-administered airport governance systems we focus on Nagoya Airport, the ownership of which was transferred from the central government to the Aichi prefectural government, and discuss case studies of changes in management from the perspective of utilization of local airports. Third, as a means of evaluating locally administered airport governance systems we discuss the relationship with the governance structure, focusing on efforts to attract charter flights as a part of efforts to invigorate the usage of local airports. Fourth, as a means of evaluating governance systems in locally administered airports, we focus on terminal building management companies financed and run by local governments, discussing the relationship between the efficiency of their management and their governance structure. These analyses demonstrate the importance of the efficiency of airport operations at a time when airport development is regarded as being over and, for appropriate airport governance, the urgent need to design an institutional system to enhance regional incentives.