Japan at a Deadlock

by Michio Morishima

Overview

When Professor Morishima's book Why has Japan 'Succeeded'? (1982) was published, Japan was still a country of 'capitalism from above'. For the past ten years the country's economy has faltered and declined. It is turning towards 'capitalism from below' despite Japan's weak democracy. This directional change is investigated through a variety of standpoints, using an in-depth knowledge of the Japanese ethos, national history, educational background, as well as the sociology of the Japanese economy and business world. The author offers a long-term forecast for the future of Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333748947
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	08/22/2000
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	261
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

MICHIO MORISHIMA is the former Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and works at STICERD attached to the LSE. He is the General Editor of the Macmillan series of the Classics in the History and Development of Economics. His previous publications include Why Has Japan ‘Succeeded'?, as well as volumes on general economic theory, the history of economic thought and the socio-economic aspects of the development of Japan.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Ideology and Economic Activity: An International Comparison Transformation from Feudalism to Capitalism in Japan Japanese Financial System: Its Solidarity and Vulnerability Japanese Enterprise as Private Sector Bureaucracy Severe Wage Differentials Persisting in Japan Agony towards Capitalism from Below A Perspective on Japan in the Coming Century Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

'Morishima casts his intellectual net broadly. He probes social, cultural and economic factors for answers to the dual enigma of Japan's earlier vitality and its current stagnation. In doing so, he accomplishes the unusual feat of both seeing how organizations and individuals actually behave, and presenting analytic concepts with practical explanatory value.' - Kent E. Calder, Japan Quarterly

From the Publisher

Economic theoretician and historian Morishima (London School of Economics) looks beneath the real-estate speculation that fueled the Asian crisis of the 1990s to find a radical change in the nature of capitalism in Japan. In the 1980s, he explains, the economy was ruled by the government and large companies, and small companies had a difficult time because they were under the strict control of parent companies. A decade later, individual, small companies, and banks were borrowing money against their small plots to buy large plots, signalling a milepost in the tough road to capitalism from below. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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