The effects of barriers to technology adoption on japanese prewar and postwar economic growth

Daisuke Ikeda and Yasuko Morita

Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 2020, vol. 55, issue C

Abstract: Following the start of modern economic growth around the end of the 19th century, Japan’s economy had substantially lagged behind leading economies before World War II, but achieved rapid catch-up – the growth miracle – after the war. To explain the patterns, we build a dynamic model and examine the role of barriers to technology adoption. We find that such barriers hampered catch-up in the prewar period and explain about one-third of the postwar miracle. Taking a historical perspective, we argue that factors that acted as the barriers include low capacity to absorb technology, economic and political frictions with the outside world, and a lack of sufficient competition.

Keywords: Japanese economy; Barriers to technology adoption; Investment specific technology; Postwar growth miracle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N15 N75 O11 O41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: The Effects of Barriers to Technology Adoption on Japanese Prewar and Postwar Economic Growth (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:55:y:2020:i:c:s0889158319300528

DOI: 10.1016/j.jjie.2019.101061

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