The improvement of the urban capital stock in Japan is caught between the high price of land (and housing) and local and national fiscal constraints. In recent years rising land prices have been underpinned by the relatively recent system of planning controls and by a wide array of subsidies: suppliers of urban development have not been charged the full cost of infrastructure; while the demand for housing and development has been supported by the protected capital market and by many forms of direct and indirect assistance. Since 1980, the stringent budgetary situation has helped to reduce the rate of increase of land prices. But higher local taxes and more expropriation of the land needed for development remain politically unacceptable.
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