The Effects of Barriers to Technology Adoption on Japanese Prewar and Postwar Economic Growth

Daisuke Ikeda and Yasuko Morita
Additional contact information
Yasuko Morita: Director and Senior Economist, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan @(E-mail: yasuko.morita@boj.or.jp)

No 16-E-01, IMES Discussion Paper Series from Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan

Abstract: Following the start of modern economic growth around the mid- 1880s, Japan fs economy continued to substantially lag behind leading economies before World War II, but achieved rapid catch-up after the war. To explain the patterns, we build a dynamic model and examine the role of barriers to technology adoption. We find such barriers hampered catch-up in the prewar period and explain about 40 percent of the postwar miracle. Taking a historical perspective, we argue that factors that acted as barriers include low capacity to absorb technology, economic and political frictions with the outside world, and a lack of competition.

Keywords: Japan; Barriers to technology adoption; Investment specific technology; Catch-up; Postwar miracle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N15 N75 O11 O41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-fdg, nep-gro and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effects of barriers to technology adoption on japanese prewar and postwar economic growth (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ime:imedps:16-e-01

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