Municipality amalgamation in Japan: an examination using event history analysis

This study considers the factors behind municipality amalgamation in Japan from fiscal year 1999 to 2005 by using event history analysis. We use a discrete-time logistic model and a 21,165 person-year dataset. Our findings show that the central government's carrot-and-stick policy strongly influenced municipality amalgamation for those with high ratios of inter-governmental grants to total revenue. Moreover, the amalgamation of neighboring municipalities became a trigger for other municipalities to amalgamate.