Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction and Overview
- 2 Economic and Political Institutions in the 1970s
- 3 The “High-Water Mark” of the Japanese Economy – A “Model” of Financial Liberalization: 1980 to 1985
- 4 An Accident Waiting to Happen – The Bubble Economy from 1985 to 1990
- 5 Economic and Financial Distress from 1990 to 2001 and the Turning Point
- 6 Why Did the Economic and Financial Distress Last So Long?
- 7 The Transition of Political Institutions in the 1990s and the New Century
- 8 Political Economy of Japan's Fiscal Program
- 9 Koizumi Administration's Reform in Broad Perspective: Fiscal Consolidation and Market Reform
- 10 Japan's Corporate Governance, Labor Practices, and Citizens' Social and Economic Life at the Beginning of the New Century
- 11 Japanese Political Economy in the First Decade of the New Century
- References
- Index
2 - Economic and Political Institutions in the 1970s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction and Overview
- 2 Economic and Political Institutions in the 1970s
- 3 The “High-Water Mark” of the Japanese Economy – A “Model” of Financial Liberalization: 1980 to 1985
- 4 An Accident Waiting to Happen – The Bubble Economy from 1985 to 1990
- 5 Economic and Financial Distress from 1990 to 2001 and the Turning Point
- 6 Why Did the Economic and Financial Distress Last So Long?
- 7 The Transition of Political Institutions in the 1990s and the New Century
- 8 Political Economy of Japan's Fiscal Program
- 9 Koizumi Administration's Reform in Broad Perspective: Fiscal Consolidation and Market Reform
- 10 Japan's Corporate Governance, Labor Practices, and Citizens' Social and Economic Life at the Beginning of the New Century
- 11 Japanese Political Economy in the First Decade of the New Century
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Japan emerged from World War II in 1945 as a devastated nation with much of its infrastructure destroyed, hyperinflation fueled by government deficits and rapid monetary growth, political institutions in disarray, and a deep pessimism about the ability of Japan's economic and political institutions to provide economic growth and political stability in the future. The prewar economic and political institutions had embodied Japan's view of how the world functioned and had served Japan up to World War II but were found wanting in the postwar environment. This was an especially difficult attitudinal change on Japan's part, considering the overall impressive performance of the Japanese economy since the start of modernization in the 1870s.
The modernization effort itself was the outcome of the political decision manifested by the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to develop a set of economic and political institutions to first achieve industrial and military parity with the West and then surpass the West. These institutions over time incorporated a social contract between the government and its citizens, in which the government was given authority to manage the economy in exchange for economic security. The institutions that evolved after the Meiji Restoration built on a series of favorable conditions established during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), such as a road system, centralized government, strong work ethic, and relatively high level of education. The policy outcomes of the Meiji Restoration were impressive by any standard.
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- Information
- Japan since 1980 , pp. 27 - 54Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008