Rate My Professor Masato Miyazaki

Dr. Masato Miyazaki serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle, Australia, since May 2023. Concurrently, he holds the position of Professor at Saitama University in Japan, Faculty of Economics, a role he assumed in April 2024 following previous appointments there as Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences from April 2021 to March 2024, and various faculty positions from 2010 to 2021. Earlier in his career, Miyazaki was Adjunct Associate Professor and Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology Sydney from 2018 to 2022, and Lecturer at the Faculty of Human Welfare, Den-en Chofu University from 2009 to 2010. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from Keio University in 2010, along with a master's degree from the Graduate School of Economics at Keio University in 2004 and a bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Business and Commerce at the same university in 2001.

Miyazaki's research focuses on public economics and labor economics, particularly local government finance, fiscal sustainability, municipal amalgamations, regional decline, and intergovernmental fiscal transfers. He has authored key books such as Regional Decline (Iwanami Shoten, 2021), Political Economy of Local Government Behavior: Dynamism of Local Finance System and Intergovernmental Relations (Keio University Press, 2018), and Public Policy under Contraction Economy (Keio University Press, 2018, co-authored). Prominent journal publications include "Does Inequality Still Matter? Income Heterogeneity and Local Government Expenditure" (Economic Record, 2024, with Joseph Drew and Dana McQuestin), "Is ‘More’ Better? Testing the Assumption That Larger Local Governments Are More Sustainable" (Australian Journal of Public Administration, 2024, with Joseph Drew and Dana McQuestin), "Public Policy by Syllogism? Does Logic Hold the Answer to Better Policy Outcomes?" (Evaluation Review, 2025, with Joseph Drew, Rene Villano, and Dana McQuestin), "The Other Side of the Local Government Ledger—The Association between Revenue Growth and Population Growth" (Australian Journal of Public Administration, 2023, with Joseph Drew and Michael A. Kortt), and "Fiscal Sustainability and Municipal Amalgamations in Japan" (Public Administration Quarterly, 2020). In recognition of his contributions, he received the Sato Award in the paper category from the Japan Association for Local Public Finance in May 2008. Miyazaki's scholarship has influenced policy discussions on local government financial sustainability in Australia and Japan, including reports for Leeton Shire Council and Cessnock City Council.