Making deregulation happen

TOYODA Shoichiro
Chairman
Keidanren

The deregulation program unveiled by the Japanese government has received harsh criticism in and outside Japan. That criticism, to be sure, is somewhat justified. The program does not meet the minimum expectations of those of us who believe that all regulations of a purely economic nature should be eliminated.

On the other hand, the program is a real first step. It sets forth a clear timetable for loosening and eliminating some regulations. And it provides for setting up a framework to support continuing deregulation.

Our job now is to make sure that the measures in the program get implemented and to push for further deregulation. We must keep working to make deregulation happen. Three kinds of effort will be especially important.

First, we need to keep a close eye on progress in implementing the program and on the steps toward reviewing and strengthening its provisions. Together with other business organizations, we at Keidanren will do all we can to help the Administrative Reform Committee fulfill its monitoring role to the fullest.
Second, we need to make sure that the above-mentioned reviewing and strengthening of the program take place periodically. We at Keidanren must push vigorously for further deregulation, including areas not covered by the present program.
Third, we need to cultivate support for deregulation among the public at large. Our efforts should include measures to demonstrate that deregulation will reduce price differentials between Japan and other nations, that it will spawn new business opportunities, and that it thus will generate employment.

The long term benefits of deregulation are crystal clear. They are clear, for example, in the experience of the United States. U.S. industry is experiencing resurgent vitality. And that vitality is due at least in part to deregulation undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s. Air transport and telecommunications are two sectors where the deregulation was especially dramatic and where the benefits for consumers have been especially pronounced.

Of course, even the United States required a long time to carry out its regulatory reforms. Proponents of deregulation had to overcome a great deal of resistance and outright opposition. We in Japan need to evince the same kind of determination and perseverance. We need to make deregulation happen and thereby provide a powerful stimulus to the Japanese economy.

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