The postwar Japanese economy : its development and structure, 1937-1994

291 Pages·1995·10.873 MB·English

by  Takafusa Nakamura

Postw ar
Japanese
Econom y
Its Development and Structure, 1937-1994
Second Edition
Takafusa Nakamura
UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO PRESS
This book was originally published in Japanese by the University of Tokyo
Press under the title Nihon Keizai: Sono Seicho to Kozo (1980,1993).
English translation © by UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO PRESS, 1995
First edition published 1981; second edition, 1995
ISBN 4-13-047063-9
ISBN 0-86008-514-7
Printed in Japan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans­
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, with­
out permission in writing from the publisher.
99 98 97 96 95 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures xiii
Preface xvii
Part I Rising from the Ashes
1 Preparation through Destruction: The Wartime Economy 3
2 Reform and Reconstruction 23
3 Rapid Growth 53
Part II Ways and Means of Rapid Growth
4 The Mechanism and Policies of Growth 113
5 The Dual Structure: Labor, Small Business, and Agriculture 145
Part III Stable Growth and Internationalization
6 The End of Rapid Growth 197
7 In the New International Environment 237
Epilogue: The 1990s
8 The Collapse of the Bubble Economy 271
Appendix: Cabinets and Major Events, 1935-1993 277
Index 283
v

List of Tables
Industrial Capacity Expansion Targets in the 1937 Five-year
Plan for Key Industries 5
Japan’s Trade Balance (1930s) 6
Summary of Materials Mobilization Plan 9
Fluctuations in Military Production 13
Movements in Production Indexes (1937 = 100) 13
Distribution of Wartime Employed Population 15
Damage to the National Wealth 16
Production Plant Capacity for Key Materials 77
Concentration Ratios for Leading Producers 28
Changes in the Proportion of Tenant Farmers 29
Prefectures with Highest and Lowest Rates of Rice Crop
Increases per Tan in 1951-55 30
Changes in Reparations Proposals: Value of Facilities to Be
Removed 33
Five-year Economic Rehabilitation Plan (Targets: FY1952) 39
Financial Conditions from April 1949 to June 1950 42
Economic Indicators during and after the Korean War 44
Fluctuations in Plant and Equipment Investment by Indus­
try 47
Utilization of Special Tax Measures by Major Corpora­
tions 49
vii
viii LIST OF TABLES
3.1. International Comparison of Export Price Indexes, 1950-
77 61
3.2. Estimation of Japan’s Export Function, 1951-75 63
3.3. Export and Import Component Ratios of Japan and Western
Europe 66
3.4. Comparison of Business Firms’ Prewar and Postwar Financial
Conditions 71
3.5. Estimation of the Private Plant and Equipment Investment
Function, 1955-70 73
3.6. Summary of Major Postwar Technological Advances, 1950-
75 78
3.7. Primary Energy Supply 84
3.8. Per-kilocalorie Unit Price Comparison of Coal and Crude Oil
(Tokyo, 1955-65) 86
3.9. Summary of Government Economic Plans 92
3.10. Goods and Services as Proportions of Consumption Spending,
1971-91 97
3.11. Changes in the Housing Situation 98
3.12. Urban Land Price Increases 99
3.13. Heights and Weights of Young People 102
3.14. Regression Formulae and Coefficients of Determination for the
Average Propensity to Consume and Ratio of Household Head’s
Temporary Income to Fixed Periodic Income 105
4.1. Changes in Capital Coefficients 115
4.2. Special Group Consumer Price Indexes 117
4.3. Interquartile Variations in Average Wages of All Male
Workers 118
4.4. Induced Production Coefficients for Fixed Capital Formation,
1960-70 122
4.5. Increases in Private Capital Stock (run-on base) 123
4.6. Numbers of Employees and Per-capita Production in Key
Industries 124
LIST OF TABLES IX
4.7. Trends in Public Works Expenditure (5-year average
values) 130
4.8. Road Extensions and Freight Transportation Volume 131
4.9. Corrective Effect of Income Redistribution on Income Inequality
(Gini Coefficient) 133
4.10. Trends in Treasury Investments and Loans 134
4.11. Capital Resources and Loan Investments of Financial Institu­
tions 138
5.1. Composition of the Employed Population (1940-90) 146
5.2. Increases in Number of Employed Persons in Manufactur­
ing 148
5.3. Labor Market Trends from the Latter Half of the 1950s
Onward 149
5.4. Trends in Rate of Female Employment by Dependent
Status 154
5.5. Indexes of the Structure and Level of Wages (Place of Business
Aggregates) 156
5.6. Indexes of the Structure and Level of Wages 157
5.7. Changes in That Part of the Non-agricultural Labor Force
Consisting of Workers for Whom “My Job Is Secondary” 161
5.8. Number of Business Establishments and Number of Employees
by Size of Business 163
5.9. Subcontracting Circumstances of Small Firms (Year-end,
1966) 168
5.10. Analysis of Corporate Value-added Productivity 171
5.11. Objectives of Plant and Equipment Investment 172
5.12. Fluctuations in Number of Business Establishments Covered by
Unemployment Insurance 175
5.13. Input-Output Tables for 1955 178
5.14. Power of Dispersion and Sensitivity of Disperson Coeffi­
cients 180
5.15. Composition of Demand for Value Shipped in 1955 (as a pro­
portion of total value supplied) 181
X LIST OF TABLES
5.16. Number of Farm Households and Farming Population 183
5.17. Holdings of Agricultural Machinery 185
5.18. Increases in Agricultural Productivity 187
5.19. Indexes on Independent Farm Operators 189
5.20. Changes in Farm Household Economics 190
6.1. Worldwide (A) and Japanese (B) Production, Trade, and Gold
and Foreign Currency Reserves 198
6.2. External Asset and Liability Balance 200
6.3. International Comparison of Unit Value of Exports 206
6.4. The Restrictive Monetary and Fiscal Policies of 1973 212
6.5. Fluctuations in the Supply of Industrial Funds 214
6.6. International Comparison of Price Increases Relative to Pre­
vious Year 215
6.7. Firms’ Financial Ratios 223
6.8. Numbers of Employees in Non-Primary Industries by Size of |
Firm (Female employees in parentheses) 225
6.9. Average Annual Growth Rate of Labor Productivity Index by
Industry 229
6.10. Import Price Index (Special classification) 230
6.11. Indexes of Real Gross Domestic Product (Factor price indica-1
tors) 231
6.12. Movements in Manufacturing Output Indexes 232
6.13. Equalization of Per-capita Income among Prefectures 234
7.1. Growth Rates and Contribution Ratios of Different Elements |
of GNE 238
7.2. Index of Energy Consumption per Production Index Unit,
1973-82 242
7.3. Trends in Government Revenue and Expenditure (1950-91,|
3-year averages) 243
7.4. Increase in the Tax Burden Ratio, 1970-90 244
LIST OF TABLES XI
7.5. Three Indicators of Yen Internationalization 247
7.6. The U.S. “Twin Deficits” 249
7.7. Japan’s Savings-Investment Balance by Sector 250
7.8. Japan’s External Asset-Liability Balance 251
7.9. Investment (I) and Output (O) of Manufacturing Industry Price
Index (1980 = 100) 259
7.10. Overseas Direct Investment 262
7.11. Outstanding Loans and Discounts by Industry 265
8.1. Indicators of Science and Technology Research and Develop­
ment 274