Japanese colonialism in comparative perspective

Anne Booth and Kent Deng

Economic History Working Papers from London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History

Abstract: The paper examines the economic consequences of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria in the years from 1910 to 1945, and compares Japanese policies with those implemented by other colonial powers in Southeast Asia. In particular it addresses the writings of an influential group of American scholars who have published widely on Japanese colonial policies over the last fifty years. Their work has been used to support the argument that Japanese colonial policy was more developmental than that of other colonial powers, and laid the foundations for the stellar economic performance of Taiwan and the Republic of Korea in the decades after 1950. The paper challenges this argument by comparing a number of economic and social indicators in Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria with those from other Asian colonies and also from Thailand. The main conclusion is that while the Japanese colonies, especially Taiwan, score well on some indicators, they do less well on others. The idea of Japanese exceptionalism cannot be accepted uncritically.

Keywords: Japan; West; colonies in Asia; state policies; growth and development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N15 N53 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-sea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:wpaper:68883

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