The Expanding Empire and Spatial Distribution of Economic Activities: The Case of the Colonization of Korea by Japan in the Prewar Period

Kentaro Nakajima and Tetsuji Okazaki
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Tetsuji Okazaki: Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo

No CIRJE-F-968, CIRJE F-Series from CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo

Abstract: After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Japan annexed Korea in 1910. We exploit this event as a natural experiment to investigate the effect of improved market access on the population growth. It is found that the tariff reduction raised the growth rate of population, and that that the impact of the tariff reduction was significantly larger in the areas close to the removed border between Japan and Korea. As predicted by spatial economics theory, market proximity was indeed a determinant of the spatial distribution of economic activities. In the context of economic history, our findings suggest that it is important to reconsider the economic consequences of imperialism from the angle of spatial economics. --

Pages: 16pages
Date: 2015-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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