Economic Ideology And Japanese Industrial Policy

A major addition to the literature on modern Japanese development, emphasizing the role of ideas and ideology.

Over the postwar period, the scope of industrial policy has expanded markedly. Governments in virtually all advanced industrial countries have extended the visible hand of the state in assisting specific industries or individual companies. Although greater government involvement in some countries has lessened the dislocations brought about by slower growth rates, industrial policy has also caused or exacerbated a number of other problems, including distortions in the allocation of capital and labor and trade conflicts that undermine the postwar system of free trade. Only Japan is widely cited as an unambiguous success story. The effectiveness of its industrial policy is revealed in the successful emergence of one government-targeted industry after another as world-class competitors: for example, steel, automobiles, and semiconductors. Foreign countries fear that a number of still-developing industries—like biotechnology, telecommunications, and information processing—will follow the same pattern. But is industrial policy the main reason for Japan's economic achievements? The author asserts that the reasons for Japan's spectacular track record go well beyond the realm of industrial policy into broad areas of the political economy as a whole. In this book, the author attempts to identify the reasons for the comparative effectiveness of Japanese industrial policy for high technology by answering the following questions: What is the attitude of Japanese leaders toward state intervention in the marketplace? What is the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) doing to promote the development of high technology? How has the organization of the private sector contributed to MITI's capacity to intervene effectively? What elements in Japan's political system help insulate industrial policymaking from the demands of interest-group politics?

What has been the role of goverment industrial policy, through agencies such as MITI, in Japan's extraordinary post-war development? How has the role changed in successive phases of growth? What `lessons' can be learned from this experience by other nations, be they in the West, or developing countries or economies in transition attempting to introduce competitive market structures? These are some of the main questions addressed in this absorbing and thorough study. Dividing the period into three main phases, the author shows that policy played a crucial role in the initial period of post-war recovery. It did so not by `picking winners' but by creating a stable base from which development could occur by spreading the cost of introducing market competition over time. In the succeeding high growth period and more recently Japan's industrial policy attempts only to promote the development of new technology and smooth the decline of sectors that are no longer globally competitive. That Japan itself no longer practises industrial policy on a wide scale is an irony little appreciated by those advocating the adoption of a `Japan style' industrial policy elsewhere.

Intro -- Preface To The Third Edition -- I The Japanese Industrial System -- Chapter 1. Japan And The New Global Economy -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Japan As Industrial Superpower -- 1.3 Paradoxes Of Asian Growth -- 1.4 Japan As Learner And Teacher -- 1.5 From Follower To Leader -- 1.6 Strategies For The 21St Century -- 1.7 Summary And Conclusions -- Chapter 2. Samurai Management: A Framework For Analysis -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Japanese Society: Adversity Management -- 2.3 Hardware And Software As Core Concepts -- 2.4 Japanese Hardware: A Comparative Perspective -- 2.5 Organizational Software Systems -- 2.6 Summary And Conclusions -- Ii Japan'S Societal Policies -- Chapter 3. Japan Inc.: Business-Government Relations -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Social Origins Of Business-Government -- 3.3 The Structure Of Modern Government -- 3.4 Government And Big Business -- 3.5 Summary And Conclusions -- Chapter 4. The Visible Hand: Industrial Planning -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Origins Of Industrial Planning -- 4.3 Japan'S Five Year Plan -- 4.4 Industrial Structure Goals -- 4.5 Resource Dependence Planning -- 4.6 Portfolio Approach To Sectors -- 4.7 Japan'S Export Strategy -- 4.8 Japan'S Sunset Industries -- 4.9 Summary And Conclusions -- Chapter 5. Technology And The Knowledge Economy -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Technology And The Economy -- 5.3 The Organization Of Science In Japan -- 5.4 Formulating Science Policy -- 5.5 Technological Diffusion -- 5.6 Creative Technology Policies -- 5.7 Technology Policy In Comparative Perspective -- 5.8 Summary And Conclusions -- Chapter 6. Asian Wall Street: Japanese Banking And Finance -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Financial Policy And Economic Development -- 6.3 Japan'S Banking System: An Overview -- 6.4 From Competition Within Japan -- 6.5 ... To Tomorrow, The World -- 6.6 Summary And Conclusions.

Provides a theoretical analysis of Japanese industrial policies, and their effect on economic welfare, taking into account their distinctive features. The book explores the problems facing developing countries, particularly newly industrializing nations, which adopt Japan's strategies.

Japan achieved it's present economic position by rejecting free trade theory and instead mastering neomercantilist policies which target strategic industries for development with a range of government sponsored cartels, subsidies, import barriers and export incentives. These policies stimulated an economic growth rate which averaged ten percent before 1973, and five percent since, rates four and two times greater than America's during the same periods. This book analyzes the policy making process, implementation, successes, occasional shortcomings, and challenges posed by Tokyo's neomercantilist policies toward its trade rivals.