Abstract
This paper argues that there is a statistically and substantively significant relationship between local political factors and local environmental policy. I establish this linkage by taking the budget that Japanese prefectural governments allocate for the environment as a proxy for the local environmental policy. The budget typically plays a critical role in implementing environmental policies and regulations. Results from my regression models (panel data analysis) confirm that political factors such as the progressivism of regional governors have significant effects on the amount of the budget that local governments reserve for the environment.
