Monthly Prefecture-Level GDP in Japan

Abstract

We propose a new measure of monthly prefecture-level GDP in Japan. Our measure is derived in two steps. In the first step, we compute the production-side GDP and expenditure-side GDP using a variety of official statistics. In the second step, we compute the simple average of the two levels and make an adjustment to it to ensure consistency with the official national quarterly GDP. For more recent periods when official statistics are not available, we estimate monthly GDP using alternative data. Our monthly prefecture-level GDP measures can be used to analyze various economic questions at regional levels.