The Japanese Economy ― From Black Ships to Dark Depression

This textbook offers an accessible guide to the modern Japanese economy by examining how Japan developed from a defeated and destitute country following World War II to a dominant economic power in the 1980s and then a persistently troubled economy beginning in the 1990s. Craig Freedman, an experienced teacher and scholar of economics, provides students with an understanding of the Japanese economy works and how to employ economic reasoning to analyse the specifics of any economy.

Part I explains how specific economies can be fruitfully analysed and understood and will outline what is different about the Japanese economy in terms of structure and institutions.

Part II explains how government policy shaped the economy toward the goal of a low risk, middle class society and fostered rapid, ‘miracle’ growth in the post war period. It also examines the way in which this policy led to an inability to move the economy out of its extended slump in the last two decades.

Part III then looks at the supply or production side of the Japanese economy focusing on the key markets and organizations that formed the basis of the Japanese economy.

Finally, Part IV looks at parallel developments in South Korea and China and examines how these countries attempted to adapt the Japanese model to their local differences, needs and objectives.

Featuring suggestions for further reading, end of chapter study questions, boxed case studies and a glossary of key terms, The Japanese Economy is an essential textbook for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the Japanese economy or East Asian economies more generally.

Craig Freedman is a Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, USA.