The Japanese Economy: From Black Ships to Dark Recession

This textbook offers an accessible guide to the Japanese economy. Japan developed from a defeated country following World War II into a dominant economic power in the 1980s. But much to the surprise of the World, the country collapsed into a persistently troubled economic reality beginning in the 1990s. This textbook provides students with an understanding of how the Japanese economy works, while exploring the way in which economic reasoning can be employed to analyse the specifics of any economy.

• • Part I explains how economies can be fruitfully analysed while outlining what is different about the Japanese economy in terms of structure and institutions.
  • Part II looks at the supply side of the Japanese economy, focusing on the key markets and organizations that form the basis of the Japanese economy.
  • Part III explains how government policy helped create a low risk, middle class society in the post war period, while examining how this policy led to an inability to move the economy out of its extended slump.

Featuring suggestions for further reading, end of chapter study questions, and a collection of key terms, The Japanese Economy is an essential textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the Japanese economy or East Asian economies more generally.