Municipality amalgamation in Japan: A survival analysis of the timings of the amalgamation process

This paper uses survival analysis to examine the time taken to carry out municipality amalgamation in Japan in terms of both forming the amalgamation committee and completing amalgamation. The results show that municipalities that depend on local allocation tax grants as a revenue source, those that have an incentive to become a city that has special administrative discretions, and those that jointly manage local services form a committee and complete amalgamation more quickly. Further, municipalities that have high local public debt tend not to form committees. These findings show that the central government’s “carrot-and-stick” policy has strongly influenced municipality amalgamation.