The Uses of Public Corporations and Public Enterprises

Abstract

Part of the redesign of the institutional architecture of government which took place after World War II was the creation of a structure of government corporations at the national level and public enterprises at the local government level. This development was in part a recognition of the fact that the existing standard administrative structures were weak and needed rapid reinforcement, but there was also a deliberate sense that such standard bureaucracies were not necessarily the best instruments for the execution of certain public purposes where operational efficiency was a major concern. At the same time, few could predict the exceedingly rapid growth and enormous success of Japanese industry and commerce, and public corporations were seen as a necessary way for government to forge ahead in areas where the private sector, for various reasons, was not expected to develop adequately.