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With the experience of two severe disasters (the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake disaster of 1995 and the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster of 2011), I wish to consider 'subsistence' as human life, existence equaling the basic activities of life, an essential mutual act-like existence economy. In this paper, I pursue a positive development of 'disaster-time economics' as a research object under the larger framework of the formation of a 'moral economy,' as part of a critical process. In this paper, in order that a stricken area and society may aim at the realization of a new methodology about 'creative revival' for newly developing independent research involving the state of the revival fund of a wide sense is carried out. Nevertheless, there is an overall understanding of who, in what areas, and using what methodology, has conducted research in the restoration and revival process, as well as the weak points that tend to hinder the process. There is no research on the rationality and function of public finance expenditures or national sources expenditures. Therefore, in this paper, the term 'disaster-time economy' is newly prepared. From this concept, many activities of the project, service, support, self-efforts etc. of a social and private domain are grasped from a public sphere in connection with the process of maintenance/restoration under the disaster. The feature and subject point of the process are clarified. The market economy order that is going to be produced in this process does the basic work and determines the economic order for another self-subsistence over life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how development studies teachers in Japan are caught between Western and Eastern discourses of development amidst the changing political and economic realities unfolding in East Asia. The generally weak involvement of anthropologists in development studies teaching results in the preoccupation of Japan's development community with the task of uncovering the country's unique development experience distinct from the Western countries'. The paper argues that development studies institutions in Japan should become more sensitised to their identity as a source of discourse and that students doing development studies there should be taught to discern the competing Eastern and Western discourses of international development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural hazards have a potentially large impact on economic growth, but measuring their economic impact is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. The central objective of this paper is to demonstrate a model--the natural disasters vulnerability evaluation (NDVE) model--that can be used to evaluate the impact of natural hazards on gross national product growth. The model is based on five basic indicators--natural hazards growth rates (αi), the national natural hazards vulnerability rate (ΩT), the natural disaster devastation magnitude rate (π), the economic desgrowth rate (i.e. shrinkage of the economy) (δ), and the NHV surface. In addition, we apply the NDVE model to the north-east Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 to evaluate its impact on the Japanese economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is known to have an exceptionally low level of inward foreign direct investment (FDI). The promotion of inward FDI is one of the policy goals of Abenomics structural reforms. This present paper studies the accumulation of Japan's inward FDI stock during the first 3 years of Abenomics (2012-2015), and finds no evidence that Japan's inward FDI stock increased more than the trend before Abenomics started would have predicted. A comparison of the main policies for promoting inward FDI that have been implemented to the real and perceived impediments to inward FDI reveals that it may be advisable to shift the emphasis of the policy to address more regulatory and administrative issues and to reduce the cost of doing business in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the development potential of rural and highly peripheral areas of Japan, focusing on local factors of development, together with local identity and cultural commodities, as these are incorporated into what has been called the culture economy. Based on a survey of informed local residents and another of local cultural commodities producers, the paper alludes to what constitutes a culture economy for rural settings and identifies several key aspects related to the process of such a cultural commodities-based approach to development. While confirming the importance of identity and cultural commodities in the local development profile of rural settings, the paper sets the groundwork for further research concerning the complex process for how such development can be achieved. The main themes identified for further research include both the nature and role of residents’ solidarity together with the combinative nature of government support and local entrepreneurship in the local culture economy on the one hand, and the character of the advertising and media representation by which cultural commodities are created and maintained on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the role of textile exports in Japan and China's economic development in the period of 1868-1930 as a major explanation for the ' Little Divergence' between the two countries in the context of the ' Great Divergence' between Europe and Asia. Because of textiles' large weighting in proto-industrialization gross domestic product ( GDP), we postulate that China's initial 20-year lag in textiles vis-à-vis Japan turns out to be fatal for its industry and that it eventually ordains totally different development patterns for the textile industry in the two countries, which ultimately led to different growth patterns for the overall economy. Although both countries saw rapid growth of textile exports, the nature of those exports and the entailed position of each country in the industry value chain of trade were quite different. We then use Granger causality tests to show that in one case ( Japan) it is in support of the export-led-growth hypothesis ( ELG) while in another ( China) it is not. Our study then also explains why Japan's industrial revolution took place much earlier than China's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simulation model based on the growth rate, the inflation rate, and the consumption tax rate in the future. Future tax revenues and fiscal expenditures are projected using regression models estimated from past data. The fiscal situation is called unsustainable if the outstanding amount of Japanese government bonds ( JGBs) becomes higher than the level of private sector financial assets. We focus on the general account of the central government, which is the source of JGB issues. We find that the higher the economic growth, the more likely it is that the fiscal situation is sustainable. When a larger portion of interest income is reinvested in JGBs, the chance is higher that the fiscal situation is sustainable. Most importantly, raising the consumption tax to 20% guarantees fiscal sustainability in most cases. Our analysis shows that without a consumption tax hike beyond the 10% rate, a fiscal crisis will be almost a certainty, even with a real economic growth rate of 2% despite a shrinking labor force. A reasonably quick hike of the consumption tax, namely a hike by 1% a year, up to 20%, combined with high or moderate economic growth rates, seems to keep the economy out of a fiscal crisis, where a moderate growth rate is defined to be generated by a productivity increase per working-age population of 1.9%, which was the average during the Koizumi years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper estimates the effect of the Abe Cabinet's Womanomics policies that aimed to increase female labor supply and keep women on a career path. The policies are surveyed, and the effects are estimated using microdata from the Labor Force Survey combined with data at the prefectural level on day care provision. A difference-in-difference (DD) method is applied to uncover the impacts of the Abe Cabinet's policies. The rapid increase in the provision of infant care, especially in the urban area, has contributed to a strong increase in the labor participation of mothers with young children. In addition, DD method estimates show a strong increase in mothers with infants staying in permanent-contract regular employment. A significant shortening of work hours of workers, especially of parents with infants, is observed, which enabled working mothers to maintain their employment status. A change in the gender wage gap in the Japanese labor market is observed, but much progress is still required to close the large wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the elasticity of the local tax revenue in Japan and analyzes the growth and stability of the Japanese local tax system. The main estimated results are as follows. The growth taxes in the long run are the Individual Enterprise Tax and the Fixed Asset Tax. There are no stable taxes in the short run. The total amount of prefectural tax revenue is low growth in the long run and unstable in the short run. The total amount of municipal tax revenue is low growth in the long run and neutral in the short run. The total amount of the local tax revenue in the prefecture and the municipality does not have stability and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a question raised by Jan de Vries' on the relationship between industriousness and the rise of the market in East Asia. Was the growing industriousness in Tokugawa Japan, as de Vries suggests, a substitute 'for the absence of markets'? The examination refers to two versions of Chayanov's peasant farm model and their empirical relevance to the Tokugawa agrarian history, with special reference to the formation of labour-intensive peasant farming (Akira Hayami's version of an industrious revolution), product specialisation, and the markets for production factors, land, and labour. Its implications for the Great Divergence debate are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the source country determinants of FDI into Japan. The paper highlights certain methodological and theoretical weaknesses in the previous literature and offers some explanations for hitherto ambiguous results. Specifically, the paper highlights the importance of panel data analysis, and the identification of fixed effects in the analysis rather than simply pooling the data. Indeed, we argue that many of the results reported elsewhere are a feature of this mis-specification. To this end, pooled, fixed effects and random effects estimates are compared. The results suggest that FDI into Japan is inversely related to trade flows, such that trade and FDI are substitutes. Moreover, the results also suggest that FDI increases with home country political and economic stability. The paper also shows that previously reported results, regarding the importance of exchange rates, relative borrowing costs and labour costs in explaining FDI flows, are sensitive to the econometric specification and estimation approach. The paper also discusses the importance of these results within a policy context. In recent years Japan has sought to attract FDI, though many firms still complain of barriers to inward investment penetration in Japan. The results show that cultural and geographic distance are only of marginal importance in explaining FDI, and that the results are consistent with the market-seeking explanation of FDI. As such, the attitude to risk in the source country is strongly related to the size of FDI flows to Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the historical literature on the forms of industrialization has assumed that agriculture and industry must develop along separate and specialized lines, linked only at the macro level through inter-sectoral resource transfers. This paper uses the Japanese historical case, combined with the recognition, in much work on contemporary developing and developed countries, of the significance of diversification as a rural household strategy, to argue that a pattern of industrialization based on micro-level complementarity between agricultural and non-agricultural activities is possible. After summarizing the changing characteristics of the diversification pursued by Japanese rural households since the nineteenth century, the paper seeks to demonstrate that technical and organizational change in agriculture and rural industry can be seen as conditioning each other to produce the inter-connected structure of flexible manufacturing and small-scale, ‘part-time’ farming on which the significant role of the rural sector in Japan's economic growth has been based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to overview the developments of Japan's ODA and assess, in a quantitative manner, their economic impacts on Asian countries. The benefits of two alternative measures—one from capital formation by Japan's ODA loans and the other from import liberalization in the Japanese market—are compared. Those economy-wide impacts of aid and trade on six Asian countries—China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—are estimated by a CGE model of global trade, incorporating a certain mechanism of dynamic capital formation. Japan's ODA loans are effective for economic growth in the countries. Real GDP gains range from 0.1 to 1.6% annually. Trade liberalization is efficient to improve economic welfare. Utility gains range from 0.2 to 1.9%, which exceed those on account of Japan's ODA. Variations in those economic impacts are much more significantly observed when examined by sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs a cointegration analysis using an Error Correction Model (ECM) on annual rice prices to measure and compare market integration in China and Japan during the nineteenth century. We find markets in Japan were more integrated than in China at both the regional and national levels during the period. Moreover, market integration in Japan improved during industrialisation. These findings support the view that a well-integrated market is a cause as well as a result of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture's role in development has traditionally been seen to be a provider of things to the modern industrial sector. In this paper it is argued that those countries which historically have succeeded as those which have, at least for some time period, nurtured agriculture. Bates has pointed out that this was the case for English agriculture and this paper argues that it was also the case for Japan during both the Tokugawa and Meiji periods. Japanese colonization of Korea and Taiwan assured that agriculture was also protected, at least prior to World War II, in these latter two countries. Finally, this paper argues that the key role of agriculture in industrialization is in terms of providing a growing market for manufactured goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Late-developing countries often adopt best practice technologies pioneered abroad, facilitating convergence toward leading economies. Meiji Japan (1868-1912) is one successful example of industrial convergence, but much of the evidence relies on national aggregates or selected industries. Using historical industry data, this paper examines whether Japan adopted new technologies faster compared to the United States. Contrary to conventional wisdom, new sectors did not appear relatively sooner in Japan, however, they did grow to economic significance faster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the factors that have led to Japan failing to deal with the implications of deflation. It notes that there is a negative correlation between trend inflation and the share of items whose rate of price change is around zero. It adds that sustainability of lower inflation rates should indicate higher welfare costs resulting from relative price dispersions.

The article discusses papers presented at the journal's 16th conference held in Tokyo, Japan on April 6, 2013 and presents comments of discussants. It informs that discussants including Kyoji Fukao commented on policies for overcoming low economic growth of the country, Jong-Wha Lee on lack of business investment, and Marcus Noland on policy implications. It highlights Japanese government bonds (JGBs), nonconventional monetary policy, and the Democratic Party of Japan.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how economic reconstruction is carried out after major natural disasters in Japan, where disaster casualties have been declining but economic damage has been increasing over the past century. The Kobe and Tohoku earthquakes were exceptionally rare incidents. The Great Hanshin- Awaji Earthquake ( Kobe) on 17 January 1995 killed more than 6000 people, and the Great East Japan Earthquake ( Tohoku) on 11 March 2011 killed approximately 18 000 people. We will recapitulate the post-disaster reconstruction process in Kobe and draw lessons for Tohoku. After discussing the relative magnitude of economic damage, public and private finance for reconstruction, political leadership and the role of the academic community, we conclude that post-disaster reconstruction means a whole new process of economic development for the affected people, the communities and the nation alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an analysis of the economic relationship between the two most important economies in Asia. Over the last decades, the Chinese and Japanese economies have become more economically interdependent, a development which will, in the long run, impact the countries' political relationship. The paper seeks to answer the question: How can China and Japan gain from the current economic situation, further enhance their relationship and increase their synergies for regional economic development? Data on trade and Foreign Direct Investment are used in combination with primary data from interviews with Japanese and Chinese companies on how they perceive the current business situation and future potential. The result of the data analysis shows that the countries have much to gain from their economic interdependence. The firms see great potential in their respective markets but are concerned about political turbulence. Three possible scenarios for the future economic relationship are presented, including fierce competition on all markets and a leveraging of resources for mutual development between Chinese and Japanese companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines if the effects of agglomeration economies are manifested in technical efficiency and generate faster economic growth and higher (lower) levels of employment (unemployment). Using the prefecture level data for each of the two-digit groups of industries in Japan, it estimates a region-specific technical efficiency index based on the stochastic frontier production function framework. The factor analysis shows that in most of the industry-groups, efficiency has a positive association with external scale variable(s). Though the relationship is not very strong, it would be erroneous to ignore the effect of agglomeration economies on efficiency. For some light goods industries, the agglomeration effect is relatively stronger. Economic growth varies positively with external scale variable(s) and the unemployment rate tends to fall with respect to growth and concentration. This suggests that measures against industrial concentration may be counter-productive, particularly in the context of globalization when countries greatly need to raise productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific War segment of the Second World War provides several important sites in the touristic geography of war and peace today—the more violent the particular conflict area, the more ‘attractions’ it appears to provide. Discussion of Japanese involvement and therefore of Japanese battlefield tourism has, however, been made more problematic by a curious paradox in the way the Japanese see themselves and their country on the world stage. On the one hand there has been assiduous promotion of the idea that Japan has always been an isolated island nation, poor in natural resources, unable to understand the outside world and constantly struggling to break from Edo period isolationist shackles as an explanation of their involvement in the Pacific War. On the other hand the country now enjoys its status as the second largest economy in the world and has been a leader in rapid economic development for more than 60 years since 1945, based solely on internationalisation. This dichotomy has in fact been very useful in avoiding discussion of the actual impact of Japan's imperial past on its subject peoples (and on its own veterans), as the new Japan should not be seen as being in any way responsible for the old Japan. This paper discusses the ongoing debate on Japan's involvement in the Pacific War 1941–45, the development of Pacific battlefields as tourist destinations, and makes some attempt to portray and explain present-day attitudes to battlefield tourism amongst the veterans and populations of both sides. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most international trade models fail to account for the fact that almost all goods must pass through the distribution sector. The authors compare different approaches to modeling distribution within an Applied General Equilibrium framework and find that such modeling may significantly affect trade opening simulations. They also predict large potential gains from streamlining distribution. For instance, a 10% reduction in Japan's final goods distribution margins would benefit it as much as worldwide free trade would. They also find that, compared to trade opening, reducing margins leads to smaller inter-sectoral production shifts and thus may engender less political opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys research findings since the early 1970s, focusing on the growth processes of both traditional and modern industries and their relations with government activity in the period between the 1870s and 1940. Most of the surveyed research can be seen as a response to two theses: first, that pre-1940 Japan was essentially a market-led economy; and second, that the traditional sector did not decline in the industrialisation process, but in fact prospered. The survey argues that there were a good deal of interactions between the modern and traditional sectors at regional levels and that the regional economy occupied a significant place in the ways in which government business relations were structured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) for the promotion of economic development, this paper examines the impact of the changes in the real exchange rate and its volatility on FDI. Examining Japan's FDI by industries, we found that the depreciation of the currency of the host country attracted FDI, while the high volatility of the exchange rate discouraged FDI. Our results suggest the need to avoid over-valuation of the exchange rate and to maintain stable but flexible exchange rate in order to attract FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nearly two years the Japanese economy has grown significantly faster than commentators expected, raising the question of whether the country has finally broken out of its long economic malaise. This article by Simon Knapp examines recent developments to see whether this recovery is sustainable. It argues that over the last year the recovery has broadened out beyond merely the export sector, although there are good reasons to believe that growth as measured by GOP has been overstated and that many serious structural problems remain. Business investment has surged on the back of rising profitability and an improved labour market has helped lift consumer confidence. At the same time the paper recognises the importance of China's boom in stimulating the Japanese economy over the last two years, and estimates that this factor may have boosted the level of GDP by between 1 to 2%. With Chinese growth now moderating to more sustainable levels, export growth will slow over the next year or so. However, domestic demand should now be strong enough, in the absence of major external shocks, to generate GDP growth of around 1.5 to 2% per annum in the medium term; a respectable figure given the country's falling population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this paper are: first, to review the two approaches — the regime and the corporate-centred system approaches — commonly used to examine the Japanese welfare state, pointing out their strengths and limits in explaining welfare development in Japan, particularly in recent years; and second, to examine recent development in Japanese welfare by focusing on a mix of social, demographic and economic factors which are contributing to the recent shifts. The Japanese welfare state is currently at a new turning point. There has been some deliberate redesigning of the welfare system over the last decade, which has resulted in visible changes. However, despite the apparent changes, the underlying thinking about social welfare in Japan remains largely unchanged: postwar Japanese social welfare developed in tandem with economic growth. Although the recent pattern of welfare expansion in the midst of the worsening economy does appear to diverge from the pattern established since the end of World War II, it is in fact completely in keeping with the basic idea. A closer examination into factors such as the demographic ageing of the population, the increase in married women's labour market participation rate, the demand for low-wage flexible labour, and the restructuring of the economy in terms of more global competition and greater pressures for companies to cut costs, have together created conditions in which the established postwar model of family and corporate-centred welfare arrangements can no longer be effectively sustained. The outcome is an expansion in public welfare and services as the state takes on a greater role and responsibility in providing and coordinating social welfare. This shift, however, is not necessarily a sign that Japanese people have achieved greater citizenship rights as understood in some of the western welfare states; rather, it should be viewed as primarily a purposeful strategy aimed at facilitating economic growth. The current expansion in social welfare in Japan, therefore, can be seen as a state investment to help families and the corporate sector prepare and reorganize themselves for the new economic order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan has failed to escape from deflation despite an extraordinary monetary policy easing over the past 4 years. Monetary easing undoubtedly stimulated aggregate demand, leading to an improvement in the output gap. However, since the Phillips curve was almost flat, prices have hardly reacted at all. Against this background, the key question is why prices were so sticky. To examine this, we use sectoral price data for Japan and seven other countries including the USA, and use these data to compare the shape of the price change distribution across the eight countries. Our main finding is that Japan differs significantly from the other countries in that the mode of the distribution is very close to zero for Japan, while it is near 2% for other countries. This suggests that while in the USA and other countries the 'default' is for firms to raise prices by about 2% each year, in Japan the default is that, as a result of prolonged deflation, firms keep their prices unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second arrow of Abenomics is flexible fiscal policy. However, it does not mean just fiscal stimulus as the Abe administration decided on the fiscal consolidation target of achieving a primary surplus by fiscal year 2020. Improving the primary balance implies making government debt more sustainable. Although the consumption tax rate was raised from 5% to 8% in April 2014, the Abe administration has decided twice to postpone increasing the consumption tax from 8% to 10%. In addition, a fiscal stimulus package was implemented. We use a Fiscal Stance Index to examine fiscal policy from the viewpoint of fiscal sustainability and a Markov switching model to examine fiscal policy from the viewpoint of the fiscal theory of the price level, and find that the Abe's fiscal stance is not Ricardian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the manner in which Australian policy in matters of international trade is set. The author finds a number of puzzling features. First is the lack of detailed scrutiny given to the policy mechanisms employed by the countries of North-East Asia which have recently been so outstandingly successful in furthering their international trade and economic interests. There can be no valid reason for failing to give close attention to the means whereby others have succeeded. Second is the apparent separation in Australia, unlike Japan, between international trade policy and other, broader economic objectives such as the identification and support of new high value industries with global export potential. If we lack national objectives of this latter kind it is legitimate to ask whether this lack is for the best. Third is the extent to which policy appears to assume, without more ado, that through the liberation of market forces we shall largely resolve our international competitive and trade problems. This is a truly heroic assumption which should be clearly recognised for what it is. Fourth and perhaps most puzzling of all is the extraordinarily low level of community debate, even of interest group debate, over precisely where our 1990s international trade and economic development interests lie. If the current GATT round should largely fail, which is quite likely, clear thinking about where our best interests lie will suddenly become urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores social and spatial dimensions in the world car industry with a view to better understanding the variations in the ways transnational production systems are organized by companies in various industries in various parts of the world. Japanese corporations have forged the world's most competitive auto production system. The challenge from Japan has forced enterprises and governments in the developed capitalist societies to confront anew how they organize their own production systems and how it is that production systems become the mainsprings for economic development and change. Japanese companies will serve as the major, United States companies the minor, reference points in the comparison of transnational production systems in the world car industry. The Japanese automobile industry experienced massive growth after World War II. Toyota and Nissan went from insignificant companies in the 1940s to the world's, second and third largest car makers by the early 1980s. A key to the competitive international success of Japanese companies is the way they organize and tightly control their many layered production systems.

Technological change bias in agriculture has important effects on and is affected by other changes in an economy. labor-saving technological change, for example, enables more farm labor to migrate to the non-farm sector (Kako, 1978). A land-using bias, on the other hand, may stimulate efficiency differentiation among farm groups and lead to a rise in farm land prices (Lee 1980a), while a machinery-using bias accelerates the rate of investment in agricultural machinery. All of these affect the income distribution as well as the economic growth path of the economy.
In spite of its importance, there are relatively few empirical studies of biases in technological change. The purpose of this paper is to present, first, an empirical method of measuring technological change biases in many-factor production with an application to postwar Japanese agriculture, and then to investigate the factors that guided the evolution of biases in agriculture.
Sources of biases have been one of the critical concerns of growth economics. Relative factor prices have been asserted to be the prime motivator of biases. However, land size per farm, output price and innovation lags are also important factors affecting technological change biases. The fundamental method used here to test these hypotheses is to measure the biases in four regions among which economic variables have been different or have moved at different rates, and then to examine the relationship between the measured biases and the economic variables. Since the Japanese agriculture sector has undergone substantial technological changes in the rapid economic growth since the Second World War, it provides an ideal case study which is of considerable relevance to similar but less developed countries in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sources of economic growth in Japan and in compare the results with those in the U. S. and Europe as studied by E. F. Denison. The method used by Denison is followed as far as possible. The character of this paper is of fact finding, and the interpretation of results or the originality of methodology is not dealt with here. The results may be summarized as follows. (1) Japan's growth rate is two times that of Europe and three times that of the United States. (2) The contributions of labor, capital, and the residual to economic growth are all higher for Japan than for the U. S. or Europe. (3) Factors which account for the higher contribution of labor to economic growth are (a) the higher rate of increase in employment, (b) less shortening of working hours, and (c) improved age and sex composition. (4) Factors which account for the higher contribution of capital to economic growth are a higher rate of increase in capital input and the high elasticity of production with respect in capital. (5) Other notable points include: (a) the contribution of education is lower for Japan; (b) the capital-labor ratio in Japan increased remarkably; (c) capital's share of national income is higher; and (d) 60% of Japan's economic growth is accounted for by the residual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses various issues associated with wage flexibility during deflation in Japan. The author mentions the impacts of decline in wage earnings on Japanese economy. The author also informs about the contributions of wage flexibility for increasing unemployment rate and declining consumer price index (CPI).

Despite its role as a driver of global economic growth through the 1970s, in recent decades the rise of China has seen the international importance of Japan's economic performance recede from the public discourse. This is notwithstanding its continuing key role as economic partner to both industrial and developing countries and changes in its economic performance that would otherwise be a matter for global concern. In particular, the tendency for the Japanese economy and its external trade to stagnate not only has immediate consequences for global performance but also foreshadows a path to industrial transition for other key Asian economies. This paper reviews quantitative studies of Japan's performance. It identifies a paucity of results addressing global implications and suggests new research in this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The demographic structure of Asia is expected to change rapidly from around 2020 up to around 2050. Following Japan, which is already at an advanced stage of aging and birthrate decline, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore will also witness a further decline in their birthrates and an aging of their populations. Next in line will be the remaining countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations as well as India. Such changes, accompanied by a decline in the labor force, will not only adversely affect economic growth, but also have a major impact on voting structures, savings rates, and social security systems. Moreover, the process of demographic aging in Asia will be faster than in Japan, and its extent will be substantial, both of which exacerbates the negative effects. On positive side, these trends will give rise to the emergence of new markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the service economy in industrialized countries is having considerable effects on employment and economic activities in Japan. This paper empirically examines the evolution of the service sector in Japan and assesses its impact on employment generation and economic growth. Owing to the heterogeneous nature of the service sector, it is important to further develop the more productive service industries, while making every effort to increase the productivity of the less productive service industries. Policy-makers must take appropriate measures to enhance the productivity of the service sector in order to strengthen overall economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a hypothesis that Japan's rapid economic growth was achieved through a unique combination of neoclassical elements, implying competitiveness and efficiency, and antineoclassical elements, implying growth preference in corporate decisionmakings. First a model of economic growth is presented to establish a theoretical link between management motivation and economic growth, and then industrial organization, internal labor markets, and capital markets in Japan are investigated in comparison to those in the United States in order to substantiate the hypothesis above. We also argue that the faster economic growth in Germany over the United Kingdom can be explained in a similar fashion, and discuss the implications to economic and antitrust policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on economic development in Japan. Participation in world trade in manufactures; Speed of movement to the high technology end of international trade; Distinctive role of the state; Linking of economic achievement to broader social goals; Preservation of traditional mission of the bureaucracy.

Focuses on the economic growth process in the allocation of scarce resources between consumption and saving in Japan. Incorporation of labor supply decisions; Development of microeconomic foundations of utility maximization; Formation of linear expenditure system.

How accurately do we measure the external deficit of the U.S. or the surplus of Japan? If checked at the global level, statistics on international trade and finance show large discrepancies. Such global statistical discrepancies hamper the analysis and understanding of world economic developments. An accounting framework--labelled World Accounting Matrix (WAM)--is proposed to cross-check the statistical consistency of commodity flows, international payments and internal balances across countries. The framework is applied to data for 1990. To obtain global consistency, substantial adjustments had to be made to the estimates of the external balances of the U.S. and Japan. The implications for global modelling work are potentially vast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable attention has been devoted in the past to the methodological issues involved in the measurement and explanation of economic growth. Following the method pioneered by Denison and applied by him to the United States and Western Europe, comparative studies have been made of various other countries; that for Japan is of special interest. The present paper extends the analysis to the Soviet Union. In order to preserve comparability, the analysis follows the Denison methodology exactly, and compares the results with those for the United States, Northwest Europe, and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the value system and economic development in the comprehensive theory of social change with special reference to Japan and Thailand. It supports the proposition that changes in political and social institutions will not bring about sustained economic development, unless the fundamental human values in the society are conducive to development. There are numerous similarities between Thailand and Japan. Both countries possess traditions of selective cultural borrowing over a long historical past, and both are within what might be loosely called the same general oriental culture area. In spite of these similarities, there was a wide disparity in the economic development of the two countries. The Japanese case represents an example of highly successful economic development involving a large part of the nation. In order for economic development to come about, it is essential that the value system fulfill two functions: it has to provide goals, either public or private, which can be promoted by increased production; and the value system must generate the propensities and the activities associated with them. The components of the value system may be identified primarily from religious and ethical teachings. The Thai value system centers around personal values as opposed to the Japanese emphasis on political values. It requires very little in terms of obligation or commitment to other individuals or institutions.

Outlines the program on the Fifth Far Eastern Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. Lists of discussants for International Trade, theory of economic growth and asset of markets; Presentation of papers on econometric studies; Symposium on economic planning and econometrics of education.

The article discusses the causes of the high rate of economic growth and national income in postwar Japan. There has been an upsurge in the fixed investment of private enterprise, the extent of which Japan never experienced before. According to official national income statistics, private fixed investment (excluding residential construction) increased from 7774 billion yen to 4,0504 billion yen for 1955-61, about a five-fold increase in only six years. Such an unprecedented increase in fixed investment brought about an annual real GNP growth rate of about ten per cent. A glance at the estimates for consumption expenditure in the official national income statistics gives rise to the doubt that the proportion of clothing expenditures to total consumption is too low. According to data analyzed by the authors, in 1955, inter-industry table, clothing expenditure amounted to 776.4 billion yen.

The article focuses on the preparations for economic growth in Japan. The author remarks that while the main outlines of Japanese economic development during the period since the Restoration are now rather firmly blocked out, current interest in comparative development during the pre-take-off period of the growth process makes it worthwhile to re-examine the previous era, the Japanese Tokugawa period. According to him the recognition of the preparatory role of Tokugawa is seldom perceived and certainly not stressed in previous studies. Some notion of the importance of Tokugawa glimmered in the literature for years. In this article the author seeks to move away from the ambivalent treatment of Tokugawa and to assemble some of the more important factors indicating the high economic levels attained by Japan in the Tokugawa period which prepared her for the take-off of 1868. He focuses on the covering materials on population, agriculture, production, institutional changes effecting savings and growth potentials, manufacturing and trade, both internal and external.

The author comments on the paper "Japan's Security Policy in East Asia." He expresses that South-East Asian leaders are hesitant to accept Japan's security policy fearing that the country could repeat the World War II experience. The author cites that the country has contributed to the region's economic development through aid, investment and trade.

The article discusses the low inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Japan after taking into account its size and geographical or cultural distance from potential investors. Topics discussed include an empirical assessment of the impact of Abenomics on Japan's ability to attract inward, the gains for Japan from investment in its sluggish service sector, and a disconnect between the conditions amenable to policy intervention.

This study examines the sources of labor productivity growth dynamics in Japan (1970–2010) and investigates the extent to which Japanese economic performance has been affected by Baumol's growth disease (BGD). We find that BGD silently undermines Japanese economic growth. However, the magnitude is miniscule, and consequently the aggregate labor productivity growth rate has not been decreasing monotonically. We also explore how BGD is arising and why it is small in the Japanese economy. BGD is weak because (1) the positive Baumol growth effect is also working in certain services sectors and (2) BGD is not a durable phenomenon: even if a sector begins to suffer from BGD, it is likely to recover quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]