Akihito Nishide

Most local governments wish to improve their information and communication technology (ICT) they provide to their local residents. Although ICT in some Japanese local governments is advanced, ICT for Japanese local governments, in general, lags far behind that of other developed countries. Local residents have authority over local governments, but they often lack the tools to effectively evaluate their own local government. Without adequate skills and information, it is difficult for local residents to apply proper pressure on their local governments for improvement. One of the methods that local residents can use to apply pressure on their local governments is a relative comparison with other local governments. Assuming that local residents can compare their own local governments with another local government, these kinds of comparisons construct a network between the local governments. This paper examines the impact of the network structure on improvements of ICT for local governments. Computer simulations were conducted, and results indicated that the network between local governments does not always lead to improvements in ICT. In fact, there are some conditions that create instability in the actions of local governments. The authors believe that the Network of Comparisons can improve the understanding of situations that affect the ICT for local governments. The evaluation of local governments is difficult to understand for those living outside of the area, because the information is localized and specific to the local government. Because of this, it is often difficult to evaluate comparisons from outside the local government, and these kinds of comparisons tend to be neglected in making global policy. Results of this paper imply the importance of considering local comparisons in enhancing ICT for local governments.

The investments to the information systems are accompanied by the risks. Local governments have to be confronted with such kind of risks in promoting electronic local governments. Then, social facilitation mechanisms are required for sharing the risks. In this paper, three models of the social facilitation mechanisms are developed and compared in terms of expected social welfare. A finding is that cooperation of local governments facilitated by the central governments with using subsidy is useful only when the ability of the vendor is not matured. Otherwise, autonomous cooperation by local governments or independence of local governments is recommended.