Studies in the Modern Japanese Economy – serie

This volume explains the salient features of the Japanese labour market. The key idea in this book is integrated segmentation. Emphasis is upon segmentation: on the demand side, within the educational system and, on supply side, monitoring costs which underlie labour contracts. Using long run official government statistical evidence, it is argued that what is peculiar to Japan is the integration of segmented labour markets. By virtue of segmentation the Japanese labour market is deeply competitive. By virtue of integration it is highly cooperative.

Part of a series on the modern Japanese economy which explores all the major areas of Japanese economic life, this book examines the managerial hierarchies of large-scale Japanese industrial companies since their emergence.

The book examines the effect of various public policies on economic performance in Japan. Various public policies include tax policy, regulation, macroeconomic policy, labour policy and some others. Many fields regarding economic performance are covered in this book: savings, portfolio choice, housings, investments, cost of capital, taxes, unemployment, wages, inequality, etc. Emphasis is placed on the examination of the two factor markets, namely, the capital and labour markets in Japan.

'...a tightly argued and excellent book.' - William D. Wray, Journal of Japanese Studies How did Japan, despite her lack of natural resources, become the world's leading iron and steel producing country? This book examines how the collaboration between government and industry created this economic miracle.

This book illuminates the characteristics of the Japanese economy comprehensively and analyses how and why they have been changing. The contributors to this fifteen-paper volume are internationally-known and leading researchers of the Japanese economy. Following the overview chapter, the book covers such areas as the Japanese firm, the labour market, consumption and saving patterns, financial markets, macroeconomic policies and international economic relations.

Economic progress requires technological development, which in turn depends on a country's social capacity to acquire, assimilate, and develop new technologies. Focusing on the evolution of Japan's economy from the Meiji Restoration to the present day, this volume provides an authoritative account, firmly grounded in theoretical and empirical analysis, of the country's attempts to generate the necessary social capacity for technological innovation and absorption. Successive chapters address the specific experiences of a number of key Japanese industries during this process. Each industrial case study is written by an acknowledged expert in the field and presents material of significant interest to specialists in economic development in a form that is also accessible to the nonspecialist. The book concludes with a summary of useful lessons, variously applicable to countries at all the different stages of industrialization.

Japan experienced a remarkable growth in international finance, through a series of liberalization measures in the 1980s. However, her position in the global financial system is still limited, as the reserve currency share of yen illustrates. Why does such a contrast exist? Historical comparison with Britain and the United States as well as extensive data provide a key to answer the question.

This volume explains the salient features of the Japanese labour market. The key idea in this book is integrated segmentation. Emphasis is upon segmentation: on the demand side, within the educational system and, on supply side, monitoring costs which underlie labour contracts. Using long run official government statistical evidence, it is argued that what is peculiar to Japan is the integration of segmented labour markets. By virtue of segmentation the Japanese labour market is deeply competitive. By virtue of integration it is highly cooperative.

A challenge to superficial and mistaken assumptions about Japan's top management among foreign businessmen, such as Japanese management's supposed long-term outlook, slow decision-making, and strong desire for new technologies. The hard facts to destroy these myths is provided, based on interviews with managers in 100 top Japanese firms. Current Japanese management practice is placed in the context of the business relations developed to rebuild the shattered economy after World War Two, and the monumental changes which took place after the crash of the bubble economy in 1992. New scenarios for Japan's future are discussed and examined.

The stock market which valued the low profitability Japanese companies highly enabled them to provide 'better and cheaper' manufactured goods in the export markets, leading resource poor Japan to a leading exporter and economic and financial superpower.

This book researches banking structure in developing Japan and gives insight into how Japan's banks have become embroiled in recent financial crisis. It re-evaluates the role and function of Japan's commercial banks among its corporate groupings and proves that the behaviour of banks heading corporate groups has characterized the economic system, and that the banks could not have established a long-term capital lending business until the beginning of the 1970s.

Economic progress requires technological development, which in turn depends on a country's social capacity to acquire, assimilate, and develop new technologies. Focusing on the evolution of Japan's economy from the Meiji Restoration to the present day, this volume provides an authoritative account, firmly grounded in theoretical and empirical analysis, of the country's attempts to generate the necessary social capacity for technological innovation and absorption. Successive chapters address the specific experiences of a number of key Japanese industries during this process. Each industrial case study is written by an acknowledged expert in the field and presents material of significant interest to specialists in economic development in a form that is also accessible to the nonspecialist. The book concludes with a summary of useful lessons, variously applicable to countries at all the different stages of industrialization.