The Evolution of the Japanese Developmental State

Description

The Japanese economy underwent a fundamental transition from a liberal economy to a developmental state system during World War II, and despite efforts by the American occupation forces to dismantle them after 1945, these elements of the wartime economic system remained in place. Through an historical institutionalist lens, this book examines the reasons why the key features of the Japanese developmental state, such as pilot agencies and industrial associations, continued to play key roles in the post-war Japanese economy. Further, it locates the fundamental roots of the developmental state system in wartime Manchuria and thus highlights how decisions made in the context of war continued to influence the direction of the Japanese economy over the following decades. Analysing the institutional origin and evolutionary path of developmental state system, The Evolution of the Japanese Developmental State extends existing scholarship on the institutions that were at the heart of the developmental state system by focusing on not just why they were important, but also how and why they were originally built. Based on extensive archival research in both Japan and the USA, including Japanese language collections not widely known in the West, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, economic history, economics and Asian studies. Cover ......Page 1 The Evolution of the Japanese Developmental State......Page 8 Copyright ......Page 9 Contents......Page 10 List of Illustrations......Page 12 I Introduction......Page 14 II Core institutions of the postwar Japanese economy......Page 15 1 Pilot agencies......Page 16 2 Industrial associations (Gyo-kai dantai)......Page 17 1 The collective action theory......Page 19 2 A power-based rationalist theory......Page 21 1 Critical juncture......Page 22 2 Path dependency......Page 23 3 Ideas in politics......Page 24 V The evolution of the Japanese developmental state system and the legacy of a wartime idea – “to- sei keizai ron”......Page 25 VI Points of contention......Page 30 VII Existing literature on the Japanese economy......Page 31 VIII Outline of the book......Page 33 2. The early stages of Japan’s industrialization......Page 35 I Industrialization in the Meiji period (1868–1912)......Page 36 II Liberal market economy in the 1920s......Page 38 III Zaibatsu dominance and party politicians......Page 42 IV Conclusions......Page 50 3. Institution-building in Manchuria (1932–45)......Page 52 I Historical background......Page 53 1 Pilot agency: the Planning Bureau......Page 54 2 Special corporation (tokushu geisha)......Page 58 III Explaining the establishment of the Manchurian developmental state system......Page 60 IV Conclusions......Page 88 4. The rise of a wartime economy in Japan (1937–45)......Page 90 1 Pilot agency: the Cabinet Planning Board......Page 91 2 Control associations (to-sei kai)......Page 96 II Explaining the rise of the wartime Japanese developmental state system......Page 98 III Conclusions......Page 130 5. Institutional evolution in postwar Japan (1946–65)......Page 133 1 Pilot agencies: the ESB and MITI......Page 134 2 Industrial associations (gyo-kai dantai)......Page 143 II Explaining the evolution of the postwar Japanese developmental state system......Page 147 III Conclusions......Page 176 I Evolution of developmental state systems in Manchuria, wartime Japan, and postwar Japan......Page 178 1 Pilot agencies......Page 179 2 Industrial associations......Page 185 1 The significance of historical factors in institutional evolution......Page 187 2 State control......Page 189 III Perspectives for future study......Page 190 Notes......Page 193 Bibliography......Page 208 Index......Page 217