The Japanese Economy

by David Flath

Overview

The Japanese Economy is for anyone curious about economics, for it is impossible to appreciate economics without vivid examples of its application. This book is also for anyone broadly interested in Japan, for it is impossible to fully understand Japan without learning what basic economics has to say about it, which is much. To know Japan-or any country for that matter-is more than an ability to recite a litany of facts about its history, geography, institutions, and culture. Disciplined thinking is needed to organize the disparate facts into a coherent system that can be grasped whole. Modern economics is the academic discipline underlying this book. The book uses economics and explains it, but without presuming the reader has any prior knowledge of it. The main object of interest is Japan. It starts with Japan's economic history since the late sixteenth century through the twentieth century. It then addresses contemporary topics in Japan's economy, beginning with ones that require an economy-wide perspective-economic growth and the business cycle, exchange rates, and the balance of trade. The discussion then moves on to sectors of the economy: the public sector, industry and trade, the financial system, the labor market, and more. The chapters can be read in any order, but four threads run through all the chapters and link them: Japan's economic growth and development, Japan's integration with the world economy, government policies and their effects, and peculiar economic institutions and practices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192865342
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/03/2022
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	9.63(w) x 7.49(h) x 1.12(d)

About the Author

David Flath, Professor of Economics, Ritsumeikan University

David Flath is Professor of Economics at Ritsumeikan University, and Professor Emeritus of North Carolina State University, where he was employed from 1976 to 2007. He has previously been Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research (2009-13), and Visiting Professor of Economics at Kyoto University (2001-2), and at Osaka University (1995-6). Flath is the author of numerous academic articles on the Japanese economy. His Japan-related research has been supported by an Abe Fellowship and by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Social Science Research Council, and the Japan-US Friendship Commission. His early forays into Japan were supported by the North Carolina Japan Center and by the Fulbright Program.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xvi

List of Tables xix

Introduction 1

1 Incomes and Welfare of the Japanese Today 11

2 Economic History, Part 1: The Tokugawa Period (1603-1868) and the Meiji Era (1868-1912) 28

3 Economic History, Part 2: The Twentieth Century (1912-1945) 61

4 Economic History, Part 3: Postwar Recovery (1945-1964) 93

5 Saving 119

6 Macroeconomy 133

7 International Finance 187

8 International Trade 209

9 Industrial Policy 251

10 Public Economy, Part 1: Government Spending 282

11 Public Economy, Part 2: Taxes 298

12 Environmental Policy 321

13 Industrial Organization 331

14 Finance 356

15 Marketing 398

16 Labor 423

17 Technology 454

Glossary 466

Index 484

Editorial Reviews

"Review from previous edition Flath skillfully uses the powerful engine of neoclassical economic theory to dissect and integrate the unique and colorful panorama of the Japanese economy...An exemplary book on an important country."—Choice

"In conclusion, one really cannot fault this book and it was a pleasure to read. While it is not a history of the Japanese economy per se, one can open the book at almost any page and learn something about Japan's history in the context of its economy. It is a well-written, lucid and attractive book, and should be recommended reading for all students of Japan's economy and business. Its broad historical sweep should make it appealing to business historians, too, particularly those with an interest in economics."—Michael J. Lynskey, Business History

From the Publisher