This paper estimates the effects of a place-based policy to promote remote islands on the national border of Japan. The Act of Special Measures Concerning Inhabited Remote Border Islands, enacted in 2017, requires the government to maintain inhabited border islands to preserve national land. Some islands are provided, in addition to measures for preservation, with measures for regional development. Comparing these islands using a difference-in-differences design for 2008-2021, there is no decisive evidence that the development policy increased population, employment, or the number of tourists, particularly for relatively large, remote islands.
Jun Oshiro (Mon,) studied this question.