WHEN WILL PORK LEAVE THE FARM - INSTITUTIONAL BIAS IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED-STATES

All industrialized countries have seen their populations ''urbanize'' over time. In democracies, this demographic trend ought to have ramifi cations for politics and policy. In this paper, I examine the effects of urbanization on agricultural subsidy programs in Japan and the Unit ed States. I show that even after malapportionment was dealt with, rur al retrenchment was delayed by the balance of power within the majorit y party in each country. In Japan, once urban members constituted a ma jority within the ruling party in the House of Representatives, govern ment policy changed quickly and dramatically. In the U.S., powerful Ho use committees and permanent rural over-representation in the U.S. Sen ate delayed policy change much longer than was true in Japan, which ha s no similar institutional impediments.