Economic Development and Income Distribution in Japan: An Assessment of the Kuznets Hypothesis

Ryoshin Minami

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1998, vol. 22, issue 1, 39-58

Abstract: In this paper the author estimates the income distribution in pre-war Japan. For 1921-39, two sets of statistics were combined: national personal income tax data for high-income classes and household tax (one of the local taxes) data in 149 villages, 45 towns and 16 cities for low-income classes. For 1891-1921, a preliminary estimation was attempted based on 39 selected villages, towns and cities. From this estimation, he found a regressing income distribution for the pre-war period and a dramatic decrease in inequality between pre-war and post-war periods. The first finding supports the Kuznets hypothesis; the second does not. Rather, it suggests that the relatively equal distribution in contemporary Japan was nor a natural consequence of economic growth but a result of institutional changes immediately after the Second World War. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1998
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