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Political Economy: Policymaking and Industrial Policy in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Ellis S. Krauss
Ellis S. Krauss*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Extract

The Importance of Japan's Political Economy: The importance of Japan's political economy probably will be more obvious than any other subject concerning Japanese politics. Being the world's second largest economy and the United States' greatest overseas trading partner, and with increasing Japanese investment in America, the politics and policy-making that affect Japan's industry and economy probably have a more direct impact on the lives of more Americans than any other subject concerning a foreign country that American students can study.

With increasing friction over trade and investment beginning to undermine the United States-Japan relationship, one that former Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield liked to call the most important bilateral relationship in the world, Japan's political economy has become the stuff of daily newspaper headlines for many Americans. How much, how, and how well the Japanese state intervenes in the economy to promote economic growth has probably received more attention in the United States in recent years than any other topic concerning Japan. Words previously unfamiliar to American ears, such as “industrial policy,” “targeting,” “MITI,” keiretsu, and so forth, are now common in the American media and in policy debates in Washington about the origins of Japan's massive trade deficit with the United States and what the United States can and should do about it. No college graduate, indeed no American citizen, can claim to be politically literate today without some knowledge of this subject.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 44 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1992

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Footnotes

*

I wish to especially thank Steven Anderson and Shigeko Fukai for their very helpful comments and suggestions on the first draft of this article.

References

Bibliography and Further Reading

H = Hardbound edition

P = Paperbound edition

Japanese Companies and Industrial Organization

Abbegglen, James C. and Stalk, George Jr., 1985. Kaisha. New York: Basic Books. H, P. Recent analysis of Japan's companies differences with American companies and why they are so competitive.Google Scholar
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Clark, Rodney. 1979. The Japanese Company. New Haven: Yale University Press. Major study of the structure and nature of the Japanese corporation.Google Scholar
Dore, Ronald. 1987. Taking Japan Seriously. Stanford: Stanford University Press. H. An extremely thought-provoking argument about how the social and cultural foundations of Japanese capitalism differ from that in the West. Challenges American economist and business stereotypes about what makes a successful economy work. Good for instructor background, and parts (such as essay on “goodwill and the spirit of capitalism”) for assignment to students.Google Scholar
Rohlen, Thomas P. For Harmony and Strength. Berkeley: University of California Press. H, P. Excellent study of the personnel system at a Japanese bank, and of how it socialized and motivated employees. Rohlen, a top anthropologist of Japan, worked at the bank, making the book a fascinating study from the inside of the Japanese company as a “total community.”CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrick, Hugh and Rosovsky, Henry. Asia's New Giant. Major and huge edited work about Japan up until the 1970s, with articles on economy and economic growth especially useful. Too large and outdated to be used as a text, but of help to instructors as background and in preparing lectures. Series on The Political Economy of Japan (see below) supercedes in terms of more recent material.Google Scholar
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Center, Keizai Koho. 1991. Japan, 1991: An International Comparison. Tokyo: Keizai Koho Center. P. A handy compendium of statistics, many comparative, concerning Japan's economy, society, and government. English. Annual. Useful for background for class lecture. To receive the publication write to Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs) 6–1, Otemachi, 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan.Google Scholar
Also handy is a booklet put out by the same organization: Japan Information Resources in the United States, 1990.Google Scholar