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The article presents authors' comments on three research papers on economic development after Second World War by economists Erik Lundberg, George H. Hildebrand and Shigeto Tsuru. These papers point out some striking contrasts among the experiences of countries including Scandinavia, Japan and Italy and the postwar experience of the U.S. For example, these papers insistently raise the question why the U.S. has done so poorly in achieving stable and rapid growth. They discuss whether it is a matter of economic structure, or partly a fault of economic policy. Research paper by Hildebrand provides a summary both of the Italian postwar economic achievement and of Italy's still pressing problems of unemployment and incomplete development. But there are aspects of his analysis that needs to be questioned. Moreover, papers of Hildebrand and Tsuru gave the impression that something of a catching-up process has been important in the Italian and Japanese economies. In his paper Lundberg drew attention to some destabilizing effects of governmental action in Sweden. They refer to public investments or publicly controlled investments as an instrument of anti cyclical policy.

This paper examines three models of three countries showing the common economic theory of the firm underlying the models and modifications of the theory to account of institutional peculiarities. The models chosen for examination are Wharton Mark III, Bank of Canada RDX2, and the Economic Planning Agency. They are chosen from among the various models of the U.S., Canada, and Japan because all three use quarterly data, were made recently, are relatively similar in size and cover various sectors of the economy from demand as well as supply sides. The RDX2 model estimates business investment in machinery and equipment in aggregate terms rather than in industrial sectors. As in the case of investment equations, the adaptive adjustment equation, together with the mark-up on the unit wage rate, serves as the basis for price equations in these three macro models. The weighted average of U.S. prices is used in some price equations of the RDX2 model on the assumption that U.S. subsidiaries in Canada may follow management decisions of the parent companies. As a possible way to overcome the ad hoc introduction of lags, models which incorporate adjustment costs are suggested. However, the adjustment cost approach may not in general give better alternatives, particularly for models involving some degrees of aggregation. The three models surveyed in this paper, especially the Wharton and RDX2 models, employ the Almon lag in estimating the coefficients of the lag polynomial.

The article presents an empirical test of interregional input-output models. It estimates Japanese production in the year 1963. According to the author, substitution of 1963 technology for the 1960 base-year technology decreases errors of estimation for most industries, but substantial errors still occur for some industries as a result of shifts in interregional shipments. Therefore, only the point estimate gravity trade model results are presented in this article. The author states that all tests made so far indicate that the row coefficient model estimates Japanese regional production less accurately than column coefficient or gravity trade models. The method of handling foreign trade in the model may contribute to the instability of row coefficients for Japan. For any of the three models, a separate estimation of interregional shipments of foreign exports and imports may be desirable because of the importance of foreign trade in Japan. Finally, tests reveal no discernible difference in the overall predictive ability of the column coefficient and the point estimate gravity trade models. Both models give reasonable estimates of Japanese regional production.

Presents a series of abstracts on various topics of economics published in the June 1964 issue of the periodical 'Journal of Political Economy.' Analysis of a model of market areas with free entry; Importance of economic concentration and monopoly in Japan; Appraisal of income variability and income size.

This section presents abstracts of articles on economics published in the October-December 1964 issue of The Indian Economic Journal. The article Aspects of Trade Policy in India, by D. T. Lakdawala surveys the various aspects of trade policy in India. The various aspects of import regulation are critically scrutinized in the context of development. The problems of increasing imports which brings forth for consideration the various aspects of import substitution are examined. Meanwhile, the article Migration of Agrarian Labour Force and the Theory of Disguised Equilibrium, by Yasusuke Murakami and Machiko Kubo argues that agriculture still occupies an important place in the Japanese economy and though non-capitalistic in a sense, it coexists with the capitalistic sectors. The equilibrium between agricultural labour and non-agricultural labours must be sought in the comparison of per capita agricultural income and per capita non-agricultural wages. Moreover, the paper The Representative Firm and the Theory of Value, by V. Dubby is an attempt to show that the concept of the representative firm is not only useful for exposition but a tool with analytical significance. The technique of using the representative firm to derive the long-period supply curve of the industry is here developed in two steps. First, it is assumed that the relation of the price to the average cost of the representative firm determines the variation in the size of the industry. Second, a relationship between the average cost of the representative firm and the output of the industry is established.

The article presents a discussion on difference between economic development in Japan and rest of Asia. Japanese ruling classes has been aware of dangers of colonial exploitation and strove consciously to avoid them. Japan alone among Asian nations had a strongly developed spirit of nationalism, economic as well as political, which led to government development of public utilities and industries connected with the national defense. Japan had a higher degree of geographic and governmental unity than other Asiatic nations. Japan had a strong internal government. The factors responsible for poverty in Southern Asia was lack of education, lack of health facilities, lack of industrialization, lack of awareness about other developed countries and many more. The evidence is clear that the Southeast in recent years has gained rapidly on the national avenge in such basic measures of economic welfare as per capita income, percentage of higher value-added industries, and percentage of the labor force with higher skills.

Presents various econometric models applicable in Japan. Existence of equilibrium in an industry characterized by Cournot-type reactions; Description of distribution lag models; Emphasis on Swan's model of economic growth.

This article presents discussion on the cycles of economic growth in Japan. The present prolonged boom is not a unique phenomenon. At least two similar periods have occurred before 1941, in connection with the favorable phases of long swings or Kuznets cycles of approximately twenty years apiece. Each of the past longish periods of rapid investment and growth has led to subsequent retardation thought overcapacity and balance-of-payments difficulties. At the same time, Japan's growth record would have looked far worse without these periods. Alter an unbroken eighteen year record of erroneous pessimism in my economic forecasts about a Japan shorn of her Empire, two questions are raised. First, the Japanese economic miracle, far from contradicting modem economic growth theory, makes an excellent case in point. Second, the boom can, although it need not, continue indefinitely, with the accumulation of excess capacity in the private sector. Japan's guided economy, however, is becoming increasingly safe for excess capacity. When excess capacity develops, producers maintain or raise prices. When they do not reduce output, they do not increase it in line with capacity.

This article presents a list of documents, reports and legislation. Some of these are "Expansion of Japan's Foreign Trade and Industry," by V.P.Copping; "Summary of United States Trade With World, 1936," by E.A.Tupper; "A Graphic Summary of Farm Tenure," by H.A.Turner; "Stock Transfer Tax Law and Information Relating Thereto, October 1, 1936"; "Recent Currency Developments in Europe," by T.R.Wilson; "Wages, Hours, and Working Conditions in the Folding Paper-Box Industry, 1933, 1934, and 1935"; "Wages, Hours, and Working Conditions in the Bread-Baking Industry, 1934."

The trade problem of the Pacific, from the American standpoint, is essentially the problem of whether or not low wage manufactured goods exported from the Orient constitute a menace to U.S. industrial economy. This problem has been brought strikingly to the front by the rapid increase in the production of manufactured goods in Japan since 1930 and the sale of a large part of these goods in the world markets. The increasing sale of Japanese manufactured goods in the U.S. is causing certain American manufacturers to affirm that continued trade with Japan with its cheap labor will force the shifting of manufacturing activity from the U.S. to the far East, or, as the only alternative, the reduction of American wages so that U.S. manufactured goods can be priced in line with those from Japan. The fact that Japan is our third best export customer and is second only to Canada as a source of U.S. imports, makes the problem of changing trade relations with Japan a most important one which deserves careful study.

The purpose of this article is to re-examine and cast doubt on the empirical relevancy of the Ranis-Fei model by scrutinizing the successful Japanese experience in the light of the estimates of capital stock and prices by Kazushi Ohkawa, M. Shinora, and M. Umemura. The major emphasis will lie in verifying the comparability of basic data for the two countries and in examining whether Japan actually experienced the alleged capital shallowing phase. The author also attempts to verify theoretical assumptions and arguments in the Fei-Ranis model as the rigidity of subsistence wage, powerful terms-of-trade effects, and the underemphasized role of international trade developed in Japan.

The economics profession in Japan today is rapidly expanding although the number of economists is still relatively small, probably less than 2,000 altogether, if we exclude specialists in business administration. It is no exaggeration to say that close to one-half of the economists in Japan today are of Marxist orientation. The end of the war, naturally, saw extreme collaborator-economists purged from academic posts and the coining into the open, now with secured positions, of a large number of Marxist-economists from hiding that had been either enforced or voluntary. To all economists regardless of ideological orientation, the concrete problems of postwar Japan presented a challenge. Immediately there was a problem of inflation which, by the time it subsided in 1949, left the general price level at about 300 times that of 1934-36. Many of the tasks of adjustment which the defeated country was called upon to make were mainly economic in character: the need to absorb upwards of six million repatriates who were forced to return home from either civilian or military jobs in the countries which Japan had invaded; the need to reorient the structure of the economy from one which depended to a high degree on the international division of labor to one, at least for several years, of autarchic character; and so on.

This article focuses on the Economic development in Japan. The Japanese economy following World War II has sometimes been compared to the miraculous Phoenix. Consumed by the fires of war, the economy rose from the ashes, achieving the highest rates of growth of any country in the postwar world. Compared to the prewar years, it was noted that Japan now had higher rates of over-all growth, higher proportions of savings and investments, an apparently stable commodity price level, and a lesser dependence on foreign trade. The seven years of very rapid growth following postwar rehabilitation were not the only such period in Japanese development. The rapid development following the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the period of speedy growth associated with World War I, and the thirties when Japan was first to recover from the Great Depression and then embarked on another boom associated with an armaments race in preparation for World War II. We find that the average rate of growth during the postwar years has been more rapid than in the selected prewar intervals, but the differences are not extreme. In both prewar and postwar years, the annual rates of growth fluctuated very widely, and peak values are quite similar.

The article discusses some challenges faced by the economy of Japan after World War II and the reasons for its present growth and stability. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and at least roughly for the subsequent four years her economy was in an extremely abnormal condition. Abnormalities consisted of the process of rehabilitation from the nadir of defeat in a major war-the nadir characterized by the loss of one-fourth of the reproducible physical wealth and by the extreme slump in productive activities, less than 20 per cent in industrial production as a whole, and about 60 per cent in agricultural production, both compared with the 1934-36 averages. The inflation of substantial magnitude, continuing unmitigated until the first quarter of 1949, with an accompanying phenomenon of widespread black and gray market prices in both consumers' and producers' goods. The overriding influence of non-economic policy decisions by the occupation authorities on the economic life of the country-the policy decisions, which were at first oriented towards restricting the tempo of recovery and then in early 1948 were rather abruptly turned in the opposite direction. However, after 1951-54, a shift in structure, high investment and generation of sufficient demand led to the economic growth of Japan.

Demonstrate the importance of optimal factor utilization in the context of Japan's economic development. Characteristics of the labor-intensive phase during 1868–1895; Examination of the capital labor ratios during 1895–1930; Importance of the ability of Japan to optimize fund savings at each developmental stage.

This article focuses on factors responsible for a country to capture a significantly larger share of world trade in manufacturing in short time. India and Great Britain are short of arable land, relatively to population. Hence, as their national incomes rise, whether because of population growth or because of growing productivity, both need to import more food and raw materials. In recent history, four countries have captured substantial shares of world trade in manufactures over short periods. The first was Great Britain, starting at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and continuing until about 1860, during which period the volume of her exports of manufactures increased by 5.6 per cent per annum. The second country was Germany, capturing about 6 per cent of world trade between 1890 and 1913. Thirdly, the United States, which even more spectacularly captured 6 per cent between 1890 and 1899-not to mention the even larger gains resulting from two world wars. Finally, there is Japan, whose capture of 3 per cent of world trade in manufactures between 1929 and 1937 attracts special attention mainly because it occurred over a period during which the total volume of world trade contracted.

The article discusses cases, comparisons and contrast between Japan and the rest of Asia. The leaders of Japan were aware what was going on in rest of world. They leaned of Western scientific achievements and economic changes. They knew the great new economic and military power of England, the United States, and of other Western countries. Japan's own economic organization had already undergone an evolution of lesser degree but of the same kind as that which preceded the coming of the factory system in several Occidental countries. Japan already had a fairly elaborate division of occupations, based on handicraft, both retail and wholesale. A large urban population had grown up in the castle towns, especially at the Shogun's capital in Tokyo. These economic conditions did not differ too widely from those prevailing in other parts of Asia, especially in parts of India and China. There, too, were native merchants and workers, considerable production for near and some distant sale, and facilities for loaning and transferring money. Those countries also had considerable foreign trade. The difference lied in the industrialization and modernization in Japan, which was not there in any other part of Asia.

Post-war inflation in Japan is a special kind of price instability that can be understood only against the background of war financing in the context in the context of military defeat. Much has been written on the problem of post-war inflation in Japan, but thus far no systematic analysis has been adopted by the country. This article aims to show that Japan, under Allied guidance, has tried to overcome the inflationary crisis.

The opening manu militari of the ports of China and Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century was followed by different political and economic developments, which caused different patterns of financial relations to be established by the two countries with foreign countries. In the course of over half a century, Japan concentrated her financial resources on strengthening her industrial power at home and expanding her economic interests abroad. China's financial resources, on the contrary, were dispersed in individual commercial and speculative ventures; the treaty ports, which drew to themselves a disproportionately large part of the national wealth, remained detached from the traditional economy of the country and developed as commercial entrepots for the Far Eastern area. The outbreak of war with Japan in July 1937 found China engaged in a long-term policy of unification and stabilization. The National Government had gradually expanded its budget, with expenditures reaching a little over one billion national yuan in 1936-37; of this about four-fifths were covered by fiscal revenues and the balance by loans.

Presents information related to several abstracts on economics published in the July 1962 issue of the journal 'Keizai Kenkyu.' Theory of basis and superstructure; Dual structure of Japanese capitalism; Agricultural developments in the Soviet Union; Difference in factor prices and factor combination.