Overview

The Japanese Economy, 4th Edition is for anyone curious about economics, for it is impossible to appreciate economics without vivid examples of its application. This book is also for anyone broadly interested in Japan, for it is impossible to fully understand Japan without learning what basic economics has to say about it, which is much. To know Japan - or any country for that matter - is more than an ability to recite a litany of facts about its history, geography, institutions, and culture. Disciplined thinking is needed to organize the disparate facts into a coherent system that can be grasped whole. Modern economics is the academic discipline underlying this book. The book uses economics and explains it, but without presuming the reader has any prior knowledge of it. The main object of interest is Japan. It starts with Japan's economic history since the late sixteenth century through the twentieth century. It then addresses contemporary topics in Japan's economy, beginning with ones that require an economy - wide perspective - economic growth and the business cycle, exchange rates, and the balance of trade. The discussion then moves on to sectors of the economy: the public sector, industry and trade, the financial system, the labor market, and more. The chapters can be read in any order, but four threads run through all the chapters and link them: Japan's economic growth and development, Japan's integration with the world economy, government policies and their effects, and peculiar economic institutions and practices.

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9780192865342

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Reviews

Review from previous edition Flath skillfully uses the powerful engine of neoclassical economic theory to dissect and integrate the unique and colorful panorama of the Japanese economy . . . An exemplary book on an important country. * Choice * In conclusion, one really cannot fault this book and it was a pleasure to read. While it is not a history of the Japanese economy per se, one can open the book at almost any page and learn something about Japan's history in the context of its economy. It is a well-written, lucid and attractive book, and should be recommended reading for all students of Japan's economy and business. Its broad historical sweep should make it appealing to business historians, too, particularly those with an interest in economics. * Michael J. Lynskey, Business History *

Review from previous edition Flath skillfully uses the powerful engine of neoclassical economic theory to dissect and integrate the unique and colorful panorama of the Japanese economy . . . An exemplary book on an important country. * Choice * In conclusion, one really cannot fault this book and it was a pleasure to read. While it is not a history of the Japanese economy per se, one can open the book at almost any page and learn something about Japan's history in the context of its economy. It is a well-written, lucid and attractive book, and should be recommended reading for all students of Japan's economy and business. Its broad historical sweep should make it appealing to business historians, too, particularly those with an interest in economics. * Michael J. Lynskey, Business History *

Author Information

David Flath is Professor of Economics at Ritsumeikan University, and Professor Emeritus of North Carolina State University, where he was employed from 1976 to 2007. He has previously been Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research (2009-13), and Visiting Professor of Economics at Kyoto University (2001-2), and at Osaka University (1995-6). Flath is the author of numerous academic articles on the Japanese economy. His Japan-related research has been supported by an Abe Fellowship and by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Social Science Research Council, and the Japan-US Friendship Commission. His early forays into Japan were supported by the North Carolina Japan Center and by the Fulbright Program.

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