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Think Tank Net
An Institutional Model for Japan:Capacity to Budget
A strong market democracy needs the capacity to budget, because budgeting is the most important mechanism for attaining national policy goals. Allowing people to participate in the budget process is a key ingredient in creating a resilient democracy. In the early 21st century, Japan is facing enormous economic and social problems that should be debated using solid analysis and the input of a broad range of policy views. Japan?s budget situation is especially alarming in both the short and the long run. Japan does not now have the institutions necessary to address and resolve these problems effectively.
One of the nation’s handicaps in this regard is the absence of a sufficient number of competing organizations that might present strong policy analyses and provide a rational framework for budget debates. The American success in imposing fiscal control in the last decade tells us that building consensus was the key to eventually balancing the budget. In the process of developing a consensus, strong democratic institutions need to provide objective analyses, alternative options, and the information that is indispensable for debate and decision-making.
Japan could improve the quality of its budget debate by developing an independent institution that would provide unbiased analyses of budget options. The institution could be located in the Diet and would serve members of all political parties. In some ways, the institution would be similar to the United States Congressional Budget Office, but because the role of the Diet in budget preparation is so different from that of the U. S. Congress, the institution would have to be adapted to the Japanese institutional and constitutional environment.
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Updated date： 2011/06/27 -03:44 PM
