The impact of subsidies on efficiency and production: empirical test of forestry in Japan

This study evaluates efficiency of forest management in Japan. Our results show that efficiency of forest management decreases over 25 years period from 1975 to 2000 on an average. The study indicates a substantial variation in efficiency across prefectures with a potential for output saving in the range of 40% on an average. Our econometric results seem to support the hypothesis that government subsidies had an adverse effect on economic performance of forestry sector. More subsidised prefectures were found to exhibit statistically significantly lower levels of efficiency.