The Japanese Economy

Takatoshi Ito is Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Senior Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. He has served as Deputy Vice Minister for International Affairs in Japan's Ministry of Finance and as Senior Advisor in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund.

Part 1 Background: historical background of the Japanese economy - the Tokugawa (Edo) era: 1603-1868; foreign pressure and the fall of Tokugawa; from the Meiji restoration to World War II; case studies; Japan as an example for developing countries. Part 2 Economic analysis: economic growth - analyzing sources of economic growth, growth in aggregate demand, reform and the beginning of strong growth 1945-1950; rapid growth 1950-1973, guide to GNP data; business cycles and economic policies - dating of business cycles, regularities among business cycles, postwar business cycles in Japan, theory and estimation, political business cycles, theories of business cycles; financial markets and monetary policy - institutional characteristics, Japan's financial markets in the 1950s and the 1960s, disequilibrium in financial markets, changes in the 1970s, the short-term financial market, deregulation, the "mistake" of Japanese monetary policy 1971-1975, a comparison of Japanese and American monetary policies, 1975-1989, guide to financial data, theories of monetary policy; public finance and fiscal policies - tax structure, government spending, rise and fall of the government deficit 1975-1989, Ricardian neutrality; industrial structure and policy - indutrial structure, industrial policy, anti-monopoly law and depression cartels; the labour market - statistics, lifetime employment and seniority wages, enterprise unions, do the Japanese work too much?, the female labour force, bonuses and the share economy, Spring Offensive (Shunto), why is the Japanese unemployment rate so low and inflexible?, concepts and theories of unemployment; saving and the cost of capital - Japanese data, US-Japan comparison, data from a cross-sectional survey, why is the Japanese saving rate so high?, the cost of capital and investment, data on consumption and saving, the saving-investment identigy, the life-cycle hypothesis of saving; international trade - trade structure, exchange-rate adjustment and the J-curve effect, new trade theory and trade policy, intra-industry trade; international finance - from the Bretton Woods system to the floating-rate regime, Japanese capital controls, covered interest parity, a Yen for Yen?, exchange-rate dynamics and news, news analysis - one year after the Plaza Agreeement, the target zone, the forward market and the future market. Part 3 Contemporary topics: US-Japan economic conflicts - the "Japan as number one" syndrome, American frustrations, the Super-301 clause and structural impediments initiatives, the use of "Gaiatsu"; the distribution system - the conventional wisdom, measures of efficiency in the distribution sector; asset prices - land and equities - an international comparison, evidence from land price time series, policy implications, why are Japanese stock prices so high?