Introduction

G. C. Allen
Additional contact information
G. C. Allen: University of London

Chapter 1 in Japan’s Economic Policy, 1980, pp 1-19 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract For almost a century the Japanese economy has grown at an exceptionally fast rate by international standards: in the interwar period the annual average rate was about 4.5 per cent, well over twice the rate in Western Europe.1 At that time the outside world paid little heed to this achievement, largely because Japan, having started from a low level of income and technical accomplishment, still lagged behind the leading countries. Even when certain Western industries, for example, the manufacture of textiles, pottery and some miscellaneous consumption goods, felt the impact of her competition in international markets, her success was commonly ascribed to her low wages. Her advances in productive efficiency were generally ignored. Up to the eve of the Second World War it seemed inconceivable that Japan could hope to match Europeans and Americans in the higher reaches of industrial enterprise. To quote Sir George Sansom’s comment on this attitude: there long remained in the minds of Westerners the presumption that ‘only they themselves had the secret of manipulating levers and valves’.2 An enquiry undertaken by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1935 came to conclusions that expressed the general view at the, time: Japan remains primarily a peasant and agrarian State’, so it was declared.3

Keywords: National Income; Industrial Relation; Annual Average Rate; Japanese Economy; Interwar Period (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1980
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-04515-0_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349045150

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-04515-0_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().