The Policy Research Institute, originally the Institute of Fiscal and MonetaryPolicy (established in May 1985), is an organization to be inaugurated by theMinistry of Finance in July 2000. Its purpose is to conduct comprehensivesurveys and studies with a greater policy oriented focus, amid the bigsocio-economic changes underway in Japan, such as the globalization andliberalization of the economy in recent years and the rapid advancement of thefalling birthrate and the aging of the population.

  Policy Research Institute Logo Mark is here.

  The Institute's principal activities are as follows.

  The Research Department is engaged primarily in five types of  research activities.
(1) Research Committees
  The Department organizes research committees of scholars and economiststhat conduct theoretical studies of fiscal and economic issues from a medium orlong term perspective. The results are compiled into reports and publicized.
(2) International Conferences and Symposia
  The Department holds international conferences and symposia to exchangeviews with Japanese as well as foreign scholars and economists throughdiscussions on important fiscal and economic issues.
(3) Financial Review
  The Department publishes the Financial Review, a periodical of theses ontheoretical and empirical analyses of fiscal and economic issues by leadingresearchers and experts.
(4) Discussion Papers
  The Department publishes discussion papers to present analyses of fiscal and economic issues by staffs in the Ministry of Finance and economists in the Policy Research Institute.

(5) Exchange of Views
  The Department exchanges views about economic order with scholars and economists.

 

  The Office of International Research and Cooperation is engaged in promoting international exchange primarily through two avenues.

[Technical Cooperation to Developing Countries]

(1) To assist fiscal and economic reforms intransition economies and other developing countries, the Office holds seminarsin these countries, dispatches experts, accepts trainees and recommends relevantpolicies.
(2) The Office is building a human network, along with transferring Japan'sknowledge and experience, by inviting personnel of the finance ministries andother authorities of some twenty countries, mainly in Asia, to participate inits Seminar on Finance and Economy.

[Sharing Research with Foreign Institutes]

  The Office works with international financial institutions to jointlyorganize international conferences, such as regularly sharing research resultsthrough the Japan-China Joint Workshop and Trilateral Seminar on FinancialCooperation among Japan, China and Korea.
  In addition, the Office accepts foreign researchers specializing inJapanese fiscal policy and the Japanese economy and provides them with supportin their investigations and research.

 

  The Information Systems Department is responsible for collecting and analyzing basic information related to fiscal and economicmatters. Some of the results are distributed to research institutes anduniversities.

[Publications]

  The Department publishes the "History of Fiscal and MonetaryPolicies in Japan," a full history of the Ministry of Finance'sadministrative policies by field, for example, the budget and taxes; the"Ministry of Finance Statistics Monthly," which mainly coversperformance statistics; and the English publications, the "Monthly FinanceReview" and "Financial Statistics of Japan."

[Management of the Ministry Library]

  The Department oversees document collection at the Ministry Library. Thelibrary, a branch of the National Diet Library, houses approximately one hundredand sixty thousand books, primarily in the fields of fiscal and economicaffairs.

 

  The Statistical Research Department conducts regular financial surveys (e.g., assets and liabilities, capital, and profit and loss) oncorporations to compile the "Financial Statements Statistics ofCorporations by Industry." This includes quarterly surveys of corporationswith capital of ten million yen or more and annual surveys of all corporations.
  In addition, the Department conducts the"Business Outlook Survey" to ascertain the management prospects ofbusinesses.

 

  The Personnel Development Department is in charge of training.
  It provides the staffs of the Ministry of Finance, the Local FinanceBureaus and the Local Finance Offices with a variety of training courses.
  The Department conducts about sixty courses annually. These includeInitial Training Courses for newcomers, Supervisory Training Courses for newlyappointed directors, Executive Seminars for the executives of the Ministry ofFinance, the Local Finance Bureaus and the Local Finance Offices, and variousProfessional Training Courses to provide specialized knowledge related to theMinistry's operations.
  In addition, the Department has the Regional Training Offices in theLocal Finance Bureaus, Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau and the FinanceDepartment of Okinawa General Bureau. These Regional Training Offices conductvarious training courses to provide basic knowledge related to the Ministry'soperations.