Japanese political economy Research Papers (original) (raw)

Keidanren and Iron Triangle in Japanese Politics

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  • Japanese Studies, Japanese politics, Keidanren, Japanese political economy

This paper provides a brief discussion of the reasons why Japan's work-family policies, pursued assiduously for 20 years now, have not had much impact in encouraging young women to have more babies. It focuses on contradictory aspects of... more

This paper provides a brief discussion of the reasons why Japan's work-family policies, pursued assiduously for 20 years now, have not had much impact in encouraging young women to have more babies. It focuses on contradictory aspects of Japan's social security system, the structure of the Japanese labor market, and expectations of intensive mothering.

• • by Patricia Boling
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  • Japanese politics, Japanese political economy
• • by Thanet Aphornsuvan
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  • Japanese political economy, Rice trade in Tokugawa Japanh, Development of Capitalism
• • by Franz Waldenberger
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japanese politics, Japanese economy
• • by Albrecht Rothacher
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japan, Japanese politics
• • by Wilhelm M Vosse
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japan, Japanese politics
• • by Iris Wieczorek
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japan, Japanese politics
• • by Wilhelm M Vosse
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japan, Japanese politics
• • by Franz Waldenberger
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japanese politics, Japanese economy
• • by Franz Waldenberger
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japanese politics, Japanese economy
• • by Japan Jahrbuch and +2
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japan, Japanese politics
• • by David Chiavacci and +1
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  • Japanese Studies, Modern and Contemporary Japan, Japanese Politics (Political Science), Japanese politics

Significant wage and treatment differentials between regular workers in long-term employment and precarious non-regular workers have been a major political issue in Japan since the mid-1990s. I argue this phenomenon was caused by Japanese... more

Significant wage and treatment differentials between regular workers in long-term employment and precarious non-regular workers have been a major political issue in Japan since the mid-1990s. I argue this phenomenon was caused by Japanese society’s resistance to American neoliberal hegemony. Why has Japan resisted it, and how has the resistance resulted in the rapid increase in the working poor? I contend anti-liberal, anti-free market norms of Japanese society centred on ‘systemic support’ have bolstered resistance to convergence in order to prevent capitalist dominance from severing long-term social ties, such as management-labour cooperation. My broadened definition of systemic support incorporates dominant elites’ support and protection of subordinates in exchange for their loyalty and obedience. This paper will explore reasons for the resistance to convergence by examining an ideational conflict within Japanese elites between the market liberalisation and anti-free market camps, particularly between two major industrial associations, Keidanren and Keizai Doyukai, which have played a key role as ‘ideational platforms’ for Japanese corporate society. Under the Hashimoto (1996-8) and Koizumi (2001-6) administrations, the market liberalisation camp gained influence, but since 2006, both the anti-free market camp and its subordinates (e.g. regular workers) have driven anti-neoliberal backlash.

• • by Fumihito Gotoh
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  • Economics, Political Economy, Globalization, Constructivism

Innovation Policy in Japan " innovation policy issue can be summarized as the way to facilitate the switch in the predominant technology paradigm from one in which innovation mainly occurs in processes based on integrative technologies... more

Innovation Policy in Japan " innovation policy issue can be summarized as the way to facilitate the switch in the predominant technology paradigm from one in which innovation mainly occurs in processes based on integrative technologies developed in established large companies or supply chains to one where innovation mainly occurs in product incorporating science based modular technologies developed by new and/or small firms "-Report Governance of Innovation Systems. Case Studies in Innovation policy OECD 2005

• • by Srabani Roy choudhury
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  • Japanese political economy

Significant wage and treatment differentials between regular workers in longterm employment and precarious non-regular workers have been a major political issue in Japan since the mid-1990s. I argue this phenomenon was caused by Japanese... more

Significant wage and treatment differentials between regular workers in longterm employment and precarious non-regular workers have been a major political issue in Japan since the mid-1990s. I argue this phenomenon was caused by Japanese society’s resistance to American neoliberal hegemony. Why has Japan resisted it, and how has the resistance resulted in the rapid increase in the working poor? I contend anti-liberal, anti-free market norms of Japanese society centred on ‘systemic support’ have bolstered resistance to convergence in order to prevent capitalist dominance from severing longterm social ties, such as management-labour cooperation. My broadened definition of systemic support incorporates dominant elites’ support and protection of subordinates in exchange for their loyalty and obedience. This paper will explore reasons for the resistance to convergence by examining an ideational conflict within Japanese elites between the market liberalisation and anti-free market camps, particularly between two major industrial associations, Keidanren and Keizai Doyukai, which have played a key role as ‘ideational platforms’ for Japanese corporate society. Under the Hashimoto (1996-8) and Koizumi (2001-6) administrations, the market liberalisation camp gained influence, but since 2006, both the anti-free market camp and its subordinates
(e.g. regular workers) have driven anti-neoliberal backlash.

• • by Fumihito Gotoh
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  • Political Economy, Globalization, Constructivism, International Political Economy

The real impact of the Occupation on Postwar Japan’s development still represents a very discussed theme, as much arguable as the efficacy of its reforms. Did the American guidelines really and unambiguously shape the economic model that... more

The real impact of the Occupation on Postwar Japan’s development still represents a very discussed theme, as much arguable as the efficacy of its reforms. Did the American guidelines really and unambiguously shape the economic model that led to the so-called “Japanese miracle”? How much responsibility bore the U.S.-Japan ties in economic and political choices made by Japanese administrations right in the aftermath of the San Francisco treaty?
This essay attempts to analyze the various aspects related to the U.S. influence over policy-making in the developmental Japanese State, with special regard to Occupation Reforms, the rise of Postwar bureaucracy, Labour-oriented policies, and some considerations about bilateral relations.

• • by Lara Corsini
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  • History of US-Japan Relations, Postwar Japanese History, US/Allied occupation of Japan, Political and Economical History of East Asia, Esp. Japan and History of Economic Thinking In Japan

Growing Chinese, and to a lesser extent Russian, air activity around Japan is forcing the country's JASDF (Japan Air Self Defense Force) to raise operating tempos, prompting the question whether existing platforms will suffice in coming... more

Growing Chinese, and to a lesser extent Russian, air activity around Japan is forcing the country's JASDF (Japan Air Self Defense Force) to raise operating tempos, prompting the question whether existing platforms will suffice in coming years. While waiting for more advanced homegrown or imported aircraft, Japan is modernizing existing assets, including her F-2A.

• • by Alex Calvo
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  • Political Economy, International Security, East Asia, International Political Economy

ABSTRACT This paper tests the classical hypothesis of inter-industry profit rate's proclivity to gravitate towards the economy's average profit rate. In so doing, individual as well as panel unit root tests have been... more

ABSTRACT This paper tests the classical hypothesis of inter-industry profit rate's proclivity to gravitate towards the economy's average profit rate. In so doing, individual as well as panel unit root tests have been applied on a dataset consisting of 52 Japanese manufacturing industries spanning the period 1974-2008. The evidence generated is rather mixed in a sense that the inter-industry profit rates tendency to gravitate towards the economy's average rate of profit depends on the idiosyncratic characteristics of each industry. However, the rate of profit of regulating capitals, as this is reflected in the incremental rate of profit, displays gravitational behaviour around the economy-wide incremental rate of profit, the movement of which is found to be linked to the rate of return in the stock market. These results lend support to those who contend that the classical theory of competition is an area where further research is warranted.

• • by Lefteris Tsoulfidis
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  • Economics, Competition, Applied Economics, Structural change and economic dynamics

By the end of World War II, Japan was defeated and unconditionally surrendered, the destructive results of war shown a loss of a great part of its production capabilities, taking into account the lack of natural resources and large 70... more

By the end of World War II, Japan was defeated and unconditionally surrendered, the destructive results of war shown a loss of a great part of its production capabilities, taking into account the lack of natural resources and large 70 million population, it was difficult to imagine an easy recovery for Japan under these circumstances, but within two decades after war , Japan has managed to achieve what academics describe as the Japanese miracle, for the unprecedented strong and fast economic growth , which positioned Japan among the leading economic powers in the world, the research problem was to identify and analyze the success factors behind this economic renaissance, within this context, the research hypothesis is based on three major groups of factors, the first has to do with the international political developments of the post-world war II period, with the broke out of the cold war, victory of the communist forces in China and the Korean war, the second, are institutional factors has to do with the strategies followed by the Japanese governments, the third contains the unmaterialistic factors the Japanese patriotic, ethical and moral values .

• • by Dr Ayman El Nahrawy
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  • Japanese Studies, Japanese History, Japanese political economy

Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the major American credit rating agencies, were expected to outcompete and overwhelm the local agencies in Japan during the 1990s. The local Japanese rating agencies were widely understood to be compromised... more

Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the major American credit rating agencies, were expected to outcompete and overwhelm the local agencies in Japan during the 1990s. The local Japanese rating agencies were widely understood to be compromised by their links to government and banks. Why have the influences of the American agencies in Japan diminished, while the local Japanese agencies survived? We emphasise the concept of ‘systemic support’ as a solution to this puzzle. Our broadened definition of systemic support incorporates dominant elites’ support and protection of subordinates in exchange for loyalty and obedience. We argue Japanese society's anti-liberal, anti-free market norms (epitomised by systemic support) are a form of counter-hegemony, and this has resisted American financial hegemony and prevented capitalist dominance from severing long-term social relations (including management-labour alliances). Credit rating in Japan is an ideational battlefield between the market liberalisation and anti-free market camps within the Japanese elite. The American agencies’ market friendly, short-term profit-seeking mental framework clashes with the continuing attachment to systemic support in Japan. Similar conflicts can be witnessed in other constrained market economies in Asia and Europe, where corporate bailouts often occur, and local agencies compete against the American majors.

• • by Fumihito Gotoh
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  • Political Economy, Constructivism, Financial Systems, International Political Economy

Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA), one of the country's most important foreign policy instruments, was until recently regarded as a prime example of a bureaucratic-led and fragmented decision-making system. Nevertheless, Prime... more

Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA), one of the country's most important foreign policy instruments, was until recently regarded as a prime example of a bureaucratic-led and fragmented decision-making system. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has held great control over ODA, using it for his political goals. This paper focuses on Abe's efficient employment of ODA analysing the ODA-related administrative reforms he implemented. The analysis also looks at the ODA's history to include reforms since the time of Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro in order to unravel the roots of Abe's influence. Yet, the analysis concludes that the prime minister's increased authority is not followed by a static and predictable ODA strategy.

• • by Raymond Yamamoto
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  • East Asian Studies, Japan Studies, Official Development Assistance (ODA), Abe Shinzo

This introductory article to the special issue on “Japanese Political Economy Revisited: Diverse Corporate Change, Institutional Transformation, and Abenomics” starts with a short summary of the changing perceptions of Japan’s political... more

This introductory article to the special issue on “Japanese Political Economy Revisited: Diverse Corporate Change, Institutional Transformation, and Abenomics” starts with a short summary of the changing perceptions of Japan’s political economy from its meteoric rise as worldwide leading model in the 1970s and 1980s to its demotion to a problem and reform case since the later 1990s. Based on this overview, it identifies some striking issue and open questions in this conventional view of Japan’s political economy as problem and the high expectations on Abenomics as Japan’s current economic reform programme. Then we discuss the articles of the special issue and their new contributions to a better understanding of the developments at the corporate level as well as institutional change and economic reforms at the macro level in the last two decades. Finally, this introductory article ends with a short outline of a new research programme and four central research questions about the Japanese political economy.

• • by David Chiavacci
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  • Japanese Studies, Japan, Japanese politics, Japanese economy

Tokyo’s alliance with Washington is, and will likely remain, the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign and defence policies. It is not, however, a static alliance, but rather a living, evolving, relationship, one of whose constants is the... more

• • by Alex Calvo
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  • Japanese Studies, International Relations, War Studies, Strategic Studies

This paper argues for a reappraisal of extant scholarship on delegation in the domain of financial regulation. Through an examination of Japan's experience with financial regulation between 1992 and 2003, it is demonstrated that... more

This paper argues for a reappraisal of extant scholarship on delegation in the domain of financial regulation. Through an examination of Japan's experience with financial regulation between 1992 and 2003, it is demonstrated that crisis-induced institutional development entails a shift toward a more flexible, trustee-type bureaucratic structure. While the logic presented in this paper is far from a universally applicable theory of institutional change, it calls into question the relevance of more conventional approaches to the origins of delegation of authority, notably the approach that uses unified and divided government as a key variable. A renewed emphasis on the role of extra-political sources of transfers of authority inside the executive, and also between the legislature and the executive, therefore, is in order.

• • by Miklós Sebők
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  • Japanese politics, Delegation, Bailout, Japanese political economy

In late 2011 The Japanese Diet ratified four civil nuclear cooperation treaties, with Vietnam, Russia, Korea, and Jordan, adding them to the seven already in place with other countries, including China. The move was significant not only... more

In late 2011 The Japanese Diet ratified four civil nuclear cooperation treaties, with Vietnam, Russia, Korea, and Jordan, adding them to the seven already in place with other countries, including China. The move was significant not only because of
the identity of the four nations concerned, but because it took place less than one year after the Fukushima nuclear incident, with a “cold shutdown” just announced and Japan still struggling to decide the fate of its nuclear industry. On the other and, Japan and India still have not managed to reach a nuclear civil cooperation agreement, which would be the last nail in the coffin of the 'Nuclear Apartheid' so bitterly denounced for years by Indian observers.

• • by Alex Calvo
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  • Japanese Studies, Energy Economics, International Relations, Energy

We examine the effects of majority buyout investments on employment numbers in unlisted firms and businesses taken private in Japan between 1998 and 2015. In our sample (n=184), regular employment grows at an un-corrected average of 12.3%... more

We examine the effects of majority buyout investments on employment numbers in unlisted firms and businesses taken private in Japan between 1998 and 2015. In our sample (n=184), regular employment grows at an un-corrected average of 12.3% during a mean holding period of 4.3 years, and an annual growth differential of +1.7pp relative to a matched-pairs sample. Evidence from field interviews indicates that the positive growth differential primarily results from funds not cutting jobs beyond a certain threshold for reputational concerns. These concerns moderate the decisions of funds at two stages in the investment process: funds tend to avoid investing in businesses with major restructuring needs, and to prefer growth-centred to cost-cutting strategies. The effect on employment differs neither between foreign and domestic investors, nor between domestic funds owned by management and domestic funds owned by large financial or corporate groups. This implies that the reputational concerns outweigh differences in ownership and origin.

• • by Georg Blind
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  • Japan, Employment, Private Equity, Japanese economy

We examine the effects of majority buyout investments on employment numbers in unlisted firms or businesses taken private in Japan between 1998 and 2015. In our sample (n=184), regular employment grows at an uncorrected average of 12.3%... more

We examine the effects of majority buyout investments on employment numbers in unlisted firms or businesses taken private in Japan between 1998 and 2015. In our sample (n=184), regular employment grows at an uncorrected average of 12.3% during a mean holding period of 4.3 years, and an annual growth differential of +1.7pp relative to a matched-pairs sample. Evidence from field interviews indicates that the positive growth differential primarily results from funds not cutting jobs beyond a certain threshold for reputational concerns. These concerns moderate the decisions of funds at two stages in the investment process: funds tend to avoid investing in businesses with major restructuring needs, and to prefer growth-centred to cost-cutting strategies. The effect on employment differs neither between foreign and domestic investors, nor between domestic funds owned by management and domestic funds owned by large financial or corporate groups, when controlling for other influencing facto...

• • by Georg Blind
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  • Japan, Employment, Private Equity, Japanese economy

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed on November 15, 2020. The agreement covers 15 countries (all ASEAN members, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand) and it constitutes the world's largest... more

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed on November 15, 2020. The agreement covers 15 countries (all ASEAN members, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand) and it constitutes the world's largest free trade deal, covering approximately 1/3 of the global population and economy. The agreement will formally come into force within two years. Some of the main elements of the deal include harmonisation of the rules of origin and delivery of goods as well as elimination or reduction of tariffs.
For Japan, the RCEP is yet another important free-trade agreement (FTA) signed in the last years after the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Japanese-American FTA on certain agricultural products and the FTA with the European Union (EU).
This Brief, authored by Konrad Rumiński, summarises the implications of RCEP for Japan.

• • by Asia Research Centre / Ośrodek Badań Azji (War Studies University, Poland)
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  • Japan, Japanese politics, Japanese economy, Japanese Foreign Policy

Niniejsze opracowanie omawia oraz ocenia główne elementy abenomiki i japońskiej polityki monetarnej, a także poświęca uwagę wyzwaniom i szansom dla gospodarki japońskiej.

• • by Asia Research Centre / Ośrodek Badań Azji (War Studies University, Poland)
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  • Japanese Studies, Japanese economy, Japanese political economy

‘Abenomics’ has continued to attract the attention of both the national and international media and a broad range of scholars. There are different and contested views of Abenomics and its impact upon the Japanese economy. This article... more

‘Abenomics’ has continued to attract the attention of both the national and international media and a broad range of scholars. There are different and contested views of Abenomics and its impact upon the Japanese economy. This article argues that those more Keynesian-style remedies that form part of Abenomics have not been able to address Japan's longer-term problem of weak demand, especially in terms of private consumption. This is in large part due to the liberalising measures that also form part of Abenomics, and which are incompatible with the Keynesian remedies pursued. Whilst Abenomics has the potential (at least in the short-to-medium term) to improve the profitability of Japanese businesses, in the absence of a corresponding move to redistribute corporate wealth to labour, Abenomics also represents a hazard to future economic growth in Japan.

• • by Saori Shibata
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  • Japanese political economy, Abenomics, Japanese labor market

In a move which did not receive the degree of attention it deserved from the mainstream press, in June 2012 Japan and China launched direct trading of their currencies, so that it is now possible to exchange them without the need to buy... more

In a move which did not receive the degree of attention it deserved from the mainstream press, in June 2012 Japan and China launched direct trading of their currencies, so that it is now possible to exchange them without the need to buy and sell US dollars in the process. This is part of the internationalization of the Renminbi, opening up new opportunities but also challenges to China, and it is also part of the complex relationship between Beijing and Tokyo, featuring competition, conflict, and cooperation.

• • by Alex Calvo
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  • Economics, International Economics, International Relations, Political Economy

The combined effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as well as the resulting incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, left Japan with a large gap between electricity-generating capacity and projected consumption. The... more

The combined effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as well as the resulting incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, left Japan with a large gap between electricity-generating capacity and projected consumption. The lack of a nationally-integrated electricity distribution grid makes the plight of the Japanese economy and population even worse, since it’s difficult to transfer surplus electricity from western regions to those directly or indirectly hit by the natural disaster. This illustrates the need for a "smart grid".

• • by Alex Calvo
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  • Electrical Engineering, Economic History, Japanese Studies, Economics