日本の近代経済成長 : 初期条件と制度的革新についての覚書(第一部寄稿論文集)

概要

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Japan is the latest comer in the G7 countries, and the income levelwhen it started modern economic growth was the lowest of the countries.As is well known, Japan experienced trend acceleration and arapid catching-up. We do not observe the unconditional convergence ofincome level. Therefore we should identify the reasons for the trendacceleration of the Japanese economy. Favorable initial conditions andadequate institutional innovations in the process of modern economicgrowth explain the rapid catching-up. I analytically describe both favorable and unfavorable initial conditions.Favorable ones are a high literacy rate, infrastructure investmentsuch as irrigation and transportation, development of distribution andfinancial systems, and the development of commodity markets like theDojima rice market in the Tokugawa period. Unfavorable ones are thefacts that Japanese people in the Tokugawa period were not punctualand they did not respect promises and contracts.The establishment of an engineering education system and industrialpolicy in the Meiji era contributed to the modern economic growth ofJapan.Simon Kuznets often pointed out the importance of technologyadvancement. But without institutional and ideological adjustments,technology advancement does not stimulate the modern economicgrowth.
法政大学の論文
2006-03-03