カテゴリー: Everyday Policy Studies

New Year’s Day 2021

　This year, although we had New Year’s Day, it is hard to say “Happy” New Year.
At the beginning of the year, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the medical personnel and many others who are still engaged in hard work fighting the menace of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Furthermore, I pray that the day will come as soon as possible when those who are experiencing trouble in their daily lives will feel at ease.
　Now is the time for the next generation of young people to think about COVID-19 and others. We have all lived for almost a year in a completely different environment. How did you spend most of your time in the anxious and uncertain environment of COVID-19? If you’ve written your schedule in a notebook, diary, or calendar, please try to measure how many hours you spent in a month or week in 2020. For example, what was the daily hourly average of how you passed your time in April, August, and December 2020? Compare it with the daily average of the way you spent your time in the same month a year previously.
　Please calculate the approximate average time spent on the following three kinds of activities: 1. Average time for physiologically necessary activities (primary activities) such as sleeping, eating, and bathing; 2. Average time for absolutely necessary activities (secondary activities) such as commuting to school or work, schoolwork, housework, childcare, and long-term care; and 3. Average time for activities (tertiary activities) in your free time, which are generally referred to as leisure activities, such as watching television, resting, learning other than at school, self-development, hobbies, entertainment, sports, and dating. (See Note).
　Especially, ask what was the activity that you spent the most time on in the breakdown of the tertiary activities? The spent time on those activities is the key to opening the door to your future. Do not ignore the activity that you devoted your maximum time to, rather cherish it, and think of it as a clue to connect the activity with your individuality, charm, and strength. I would like you to think about how you make use of that activity so that it will help those who are in trouble in their daily lives as a result of COVID-19. It may take 3 to 5 years or more to reach a conclusion about that.
　However, I would like young people to realize for themselves by adopting such a medium- to long-term perspective and by making the most of their individuality, charm, and strengths. I wish you all the best of luck this year as well.

(Note) For the definition of the average time of the primary activity, secondary activity, and tertiary activity here, see the living times outlined in the document entitled “Social Life: Basic Survey” (in Japanese), which is available at https://www.e-stat.go.jp/koumoku/koumoku_teigi/M (Accessed on 2020.12.30)

This essay is the English version of No. 198, January 1, 2021 on the Japanese website.

（Author: Akira Yokoyama）

Information concerning the spread of the novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19)

　In Japan as well as in other countries, the effects of the spread of COVID-19 are becoming serious. I think that even young people see various pieces of information in the mass media such as TV, radio and newspapers, as well as on web media and social media etc. through the internet and smartphones. However, how can you be sure that you get really reliable information about such a topic?
　I see the reports in the national newspapers I subscribe to as well as NHK and commercial broadcasters, but my main sources of information are various websites. In particular, I obtain information regarding the primary materials on scientific knowledge and policy responses, including data referred to in various media from websites, as follows: the government of Japan (especially the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare), local governments (especially Tokyo, Osaka and Saitama), the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Japan Medical Association and WHO (the World Health Organization). Among these, NHK’s “Special Site: Novel Coronavirus”, the Cabinet Secretariat’s “COVID-19 Information and Resources” and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s “About Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” serve as portal sites.
　From the perspective of multicultural coexistence, the website of the Cabinet Secretariat is linked to the English and Chinese pamphlets published by the Prime Minister’s Office, but this is not always sufficient. In this regard, concerning the novel coronavirus, the English and Chinese versions of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare; the English, Chinese, Korean, and easy Japanese editions of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government; and the website of CLAIR (the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) may be useful for citizens who are not native speakers of Japanese.
　In addition to the above websites, I always read the personal website of Professor Shinya Yamanaka (the Nobel Prize winner) entitled “Shinya Yamanaka’s novel coronavirus information transmission”. In particular, I think it is a must-see for the sections “Information classification according to the strength of evidence”, “5 recommendations” and “What’s new” which are posted on the site.
　Based on the information presented on these websites, I find that I am able to grasp and contemplate the current situation regarding the spread of COVID-19, and making active choices as an individual. Writing this essay is one of those active choices.

(Note) Of the websites referred to in the text, the following can be read in English:
Cabinet Secretariat
https://corona.go.jp/en/
CLAIR,
http://www.clair.or.jp/tabunka/portal/info/contents/114517.php
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare,
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/newpage_00032.html
National Institute of Infectious Diseases,
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e.html
Osaka Prefectural Government,
http://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp.e.agb.hp.transer.com/kikaku/osaka-corona/index.html
Prime Minister’s Office,
https://japan.kantei.go.jp/
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/ongoingtopics/_00017.html
Saitama Prefectures,
https://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/foreignlanguage/index.html
Tokyo Metropolitan Government,
https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/tosei/news/2019-ncov.html#Eng
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/
WHO, “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic,”
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

These URLs were accessed on August 28, 2020, and different to those mentioned on the Japanese website.

(Author: Akira Yokoyama)

This essay is the English version of No. 135, April 7, 2020 on the Japanese website.

In commemoration of No.100 of “Everyday Policy Studies (in Japanese)”

　With the support of many people, we were able to celebrate the publication of the 100th essay of “Everyday Policy Studies (in Japanese)”. I would like to express my appreciation to all the forum members who wrote the essays and those who read the essays.
　The aim of the forum is as oultlined on the website, but as the president I have been trying to achieve an additional aim. The stated aim is to educate junior high and senior high school students and other young people so that they will become responsible citizens. Therefore, I hoped that each member could send some useful messages to young people and help achieve this purpose.
　With this in mind, I would like to ask the members to write essays in such a way that allows young people to understand the following: the basic ideas of policy studies, their own thoughts in their daily lives, and the results of their research. Writing for young people to understand as much as possible will help the authors to think about how they should talk about policies and daily lives in order that the next generation will understand their thoughts.
　It may also have the effect of making people ask of themselves “what does one owe to one’s children.” Parents (the adult generations) become aware of themselves as parents only when they have children (the child generations), and it becomes difficult for parents to take actions that are contrary to what children think are correct. Even adults who do not walk across the road on the pedestrian crossing when they are without their children do cross the pedestrian crossing when they are with their children because they are aware that their children are watching. And adults who see the children taking eco-friendly actions such as saving water and saving electricity then start to copy such actions. Therefore, I would like the authors to write essays for these young people to understand.
　Also, I would like the authors to translate each essay published in the “Everyday Policy Studies (in Japanese)” into English, so that they will be able to convey the message to young people all around the world who will play a leading role in the future, not only in Japanese society but also on a global scale.
　In addition, I have a request for those who have read the essays so far. If you have an essay that you would especially like young people to read, please recommend them to read it. Through these efforts, if the readers can carry out such a role, I think that the value of “Everyday Policy Studies” can be further enhanced.
　We therefore look forward to your continued support for the “Everyday Policy Studies” series.

(Author: Akira Yokoyama)

This essay is the English version of No. 100, December 2, 2019 on the Japanese website.

Representative Democracy: Voting and Abstention

　The basis of representative democracy lies in voters casting ballots in elections, but of course not all voters vote. Some voters may abstain in elections by not voting. In the first place, why do voters vote?
　Voters are likely to vote if there is an expected benefit from voting. This is a rational voter hypothesis and she or he will vote if, and only if,:
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　pB – C + D >0
where p is the subjective probability that their vote will affect whether they get the election outcome they want, B is the benefit derived from the election outcome they want, C is the voting cost, and D shows the benefits of voting itself, regardless of the outcome.
　The first term (pB) on the left-hand side of the equation is the benefit of voting as an instrument for influencing the election results, and is called the “instrumental benefit” of voting. On the other hand, the third term (D) on the left-hand side of the equation shows the subjective benefit obtained from expressing support for the preferred candidate or political party, or the subjective benefit obtained from the fulfillment of obligations as a citizen and the maintenance of the democratic system. It is the utility derived from voting regardless of the outcomes, and is said to be the “expressive benefit” of voting. Also, the voting cost (C) is the cost that must be sacrificed to carry out the voting. It consists of not only the transportation cost to go to the voting place, but also the costs of opportunity lost as a result of sacrificing possible benefits that may instead have been gained from work, listening to music, sports, etc. if they hadn’t gone to the voting station.
　For the individual voter, there is almost no situation in which their vote would be decisive for determining the election outcome they want (p≈0), and there is almost no difference in any candidate or political party (B ≈ 0); therefore there is usually no “instrumental benefit ” of voting (pB ≈ 0). And then, they vote if the benefit of the act of voting itself outweighs the cost of voting (D>C), but they will abstain if it doesn’t. This is a cause of abstention. Isn’t it good to abstain? Please think about it.
　If abstentions are not good, how do you think you can reduce the number of abstentions? For example, what about introducing Internet voting or penalizing those who abstain? Or what about conducting social education that emphasizes the importance of elections? Please think about that as well.

(Author: Akira Yokoyama)

This essay is the English version of No. 88, November 5, 2019 on the Japanese website.

Representative Democracy: Quasi-Representative and Pure Representative

　The majority rule mentioned in “One Person One Vote and One Yen One Vote” (No. en3 ) implicitly assumed direct democracy. Let us now consider representative democracy (Note).
　Representative democracy is a system in which members of the parliament, who are elected following an election by the people and residents, and then carry put collective decision-making in parliament on behalf of the people and residents. It can be said that the system has been adopted as a constructive direct democracy because there are too many voters in large societies such as today’s nations and local governments. However, there is also another completely different form of representative concept. This is not the same as constructive direct democracy, but in order to overcome the harmful effect of direct democracy, that is, the so-called mobocracy where representatives completely bow to the wishes of the masses. In this system, elected persons, or good persons, make collective decision-making on behalf of the general public or ordinary people.
　The difference between these two representative systems lies in the relationship between the voters and the members of parliament. The representative system known as constructive direct democracy requires the members of parliament to be merely agents of the voters and to carry out actions that reflect the political will of the voters. This representative system is referred to as a “quasi-representative” system. On the other hand, in the delegation system whereby enlightened selected persons carry out collective decision-making on behalf of the general public, members of parliament are entrusted with a blank sheet of delegation from the voters. The representative based on this idea is called a “pure representative” and is comparable to a “quasi-representative.” It is sometimes said that the quasi-representative is the people’s representative and the pure representative is a representative of the whole nation.
　The electoral system that selects representatives with different aims and meanings has different desirable systems due to the difference in its underlying philosophy. The proportional representation system is the preferred election system for selecting quasi-representatives (people’s representatives), and the single-seat constituency system is the preferred election system for selecting pure representatives (representatives of the whole nation). In reality, a representative democracy is a system that has both quasi-representatives and pure representatives.
　Next time, I will discuss voting and abstention in a representative democracy.

(Note) This essay is based on A. Yokoyama (1998) “Economic Theory of Democratic Democracy” H. Tanaka, H. Mifune, A. Yokoyama, Y. Iijima, Public Economics, Toyo Keizai, Inc., p.196.

(Author: Akira Yokoyama)

This essay is the English version of No. 72, October 1, 2019 on the Japanese website.