Selective Technology Choice, Adaptations, and Industrial Development: Lessons from Japanese Historical Experience

Tomoko Hashino () and Keijiro Otsuka ()
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Tomoko Hashino: Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University

No 2204, Discussion Papers from Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University

Abstract: It is well-known that Japan successfully imported advanced technology from Europe during the Meiji era (1868–1912). This was notable in the modern cotton-spinning industry, which used imported British ring machines and Indian cotton, resulting in Japan outcompeting India in the Asian cotton yarn market. It is also true that traditional industries, especially the sedentary silk-reeling and the cotton- and silk-weaving districts located in various parts of the country, successfully developed using imported technologies. This study explores key factors contributing to the successful industrial development in prewar Japan based on a review of the development paths of the modern cotton textile and silk-reeling industries and the traditional cotton- and silk-weaving and sedentary silk-reeling industries. We found that these industries commonly selected appropriate technologies and adapted them to the initially abundant endowment of labor followed by its growing scarcity.

Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Working Paper: Selective Technology Choice, Adaptations, and Industrial Development: Lessons from Japanese Historical Experience (2021)
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