Journal of Empirical Legal StudiesVolume 15, Issue 1 p. 192-238
Original Article
Outcaste Politics and Organized Crime in Japan: The Effect of Terminating Ethnic Subsidies
J. Mark Ramseyer Eric B. Rasmusen
First published: 13 February 2018
https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12177
Citations: 2
We gratefully acknowledge the very helpful comments and suggestions of
Tom Ginsburg, Masayoshi Hayashi, Mathew McCubbins, Curtis Milhaupt, Yoshiro Miwa, Robert Mnookin, Gregory Noble, Alice Ramseyer, Jennifer Ramseyer, Frances Rosenbluth, Richard Samuels, Rok Spruk, Frank Upham, Mark West,
several anonymous referees, and participants in presentations at the American Law & Economics Association, the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, the Harvard Law School, the Harvard University CFIA Japan Program, the N.B.E.R., the UC Berkeley Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School, and the generous financial support of the Harvard Law School.
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Abstract
In 1969, Japan launched a massive subsidy program for the “burakumin” outcastes. The subsidies attracted the mob, and the higher incomes now available through organized crime attracted many burakumin. Thus, the subsidies gave new support to the tendency many Japanese already had to equate the burakumin with the mob. The government ended the subsidies in 2002. We explore the effect of the termination by merging 30 years of municipality data with a long‐suppressed 1936 census of burakumin neighborhoods. We find that out‐migration from municipalities with more burakumin increased after the end of the program. Apparently, the subsidies restrained young burakumin from joining mainstream society. We also find that despite the end of government‐subsidized amenities, once the subsidies neared their end, real estate prices rose in municipalities with burakumin neighborhoods. With the subsidies gone and the mob in retreat, other Japanese found the formerly burakumin communities increasingly attractive places to live.
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