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The slightly odd second date is because in 1994 I wrote this essay. I went back to university that year, after quite a few years as a factory worker and labourer. One of the courses I did was on 'Japan and the World Economy' and this is an essay I wrote during that course: "In 1945 Japan’s collapse appeared total. Its military were defeated and disarmed and much of its industry was destroyed. Twenty-five percent of the country’s wealth and $20billion in overseas assets were wiped out.[5] Apart from the maintenance of the titular position of emperor, much of its political power structure was also demolished. How did it manage to recover so quickly and become the second most important economic power in the world? "Takatoshi Ito sees Japan’s phenomenal growth from the perspective of conventional supply side/demand side economics.[6] For him, “growth can occur through capital accumulation, through increases in working hours and employment, or through technological progress that enhances the productivity of existing capital and labour.” The relative importance of each of these factors is analysed by measuring how much they grew by and then relating this to overall growth. Not surprisingly, the conclusion is drawn that in Japan “capital accumulation was more important than labour” and that “More than half of Japan’s growth is attributed to ‘technological progress and residuals’.”[7] At the same time, Ito sees a drawback to this approach, namely, “It does not offer any explanation as to why those factors behaved as they did.”[8] As he notes, it simply raises a series of other questions. these include the source of finance for the large increase in capital stock, whether the particularly high rate of technological progress is attributable merely to ‘catching up’ with the West, and the role the government played in achieving high levels of growth. These are certainly important, but they do not by themselves go to the heart of the issue. . . full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/japan-and-the-new-world-order-1-from-postwar-take-off-to-stagnation-1945-1994/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
