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Balance of trade and government intervention — Japan as a role model?

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Intereconomics

Abstract

Japan's industrial and trade policies are often seen as the reason for high Japanese balance of trade surpluses. Does this theory stand up to a close examination of the relationships between balance of trade, trade policy and structural change?

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References

  1. Source of macroeconomic data unless otherwise stated IMF: International Financial Statistics (various years) and Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Prime Minister: Japan Statistical Yearbook, Tokyo 1961.

  2. C. Johnson: MITI and the Japanese Miracle: the Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975, p. 193.

  3. Cf. Y. Kosai: The Reconstruction Period, p. 30 ff., in: R. Komiya et al. (eds.): Industrial Policy of Japan, San Diego 1987, pp. 25–48.

  4. Cf. R. S. Ozaki: The Control of Imports and Foreign Capital in Japan, New York 1972, p. 5 ff.; L. B. Krause, S. Sekiguchi: Japan and the World Economy, in: H. T. Patrick, H. Rosovski (eds.): Asia's New Giant, Washington 1976, pp. 383–458, here pp. 410 ff.

  5. This gave MITI the opportunity to steer loans into the sectors it favoured (cf. C. Johnson, op. cit., MITI and the Japanese Miracle: the Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975, p. 200 ff.)

  6. Furthermore, there were no agencies abroad which could provide information on changes in market conditions and support marketing activities (cf. C. Johnson, op. cit., MITI and the Japanese Miracle: the Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925–1975, p. 230).

  7. Cf. R. Komiya: Three Stages of Japan's Industrial Policy after World War II, p. 977, in: Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciali 40 (1993), pp. 969–995.

  8. Cf. L. B. Krause, S. Sekiguchi, op. cit. Japan and the World Economy, p. 453.

  9. Cf. R. Komiya, op. cit., Three Stages of Japan's Industrial Policy after World War II, p. 977, in: Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciali 40 (1993), p. 970. Between 1955 and 1973, real GNP growth rates averaged 10.6% (USA:4.5%, West Germany: 6%).

  10. Cf. R. Komiya, M. Itoh: Japan's International Trade and Trade Policy, 1955–1984, p. 186 ff., in: T. Inoguchi, D. I. Okimoto (eds.): The Political Economy of Japan: Volume 2, The Changing International Context, Stanford 1988, pp. 173–224.

  11. Cf. R. Komiya, M. Itoh, op. cit., Japan's International Trade and Trade Policy, 1955–1984, p. 177.

  12. (cf. V. Timmermann: Entwicklungstheorie und Entwicklungspolitik, Göttingen 1982, p. 202).

  13. Cf. R. S. Ozaki, op. cit., The Control of Imports and Foreign Capital in Japan, New York 1972, p. 39 ff.

  14. Cf. W. S. Hunsberger: Japan and the United States in World Trade, New York 1964, p. 135 and R. S. Ozaki, op. cit., The Control of Imports and Foreign Capital in Japan, New York 1972, p. 46 f.

  15. Cf. L. Hollerman: Japan's Dependence on the World Economy: the Approach toward Economic Liberalization, Princeton 1967, p. 244.

  16. Cf. R. Komiya, M. Itoh, op. cit., Japan's International Trade and Trade Policy, 1955–1984, p. 181.

  17. Cf. S. Fukukawa: Japanese Industrial Policy and Trade Policy in the High-Growth Era, Tokyo 1990, p. 18 ff.

  18. Cf. L. Hollerman, op. cit., Japan's Dependence on the World Economy: the Approach toward Economic Liberalization, Princeton 1967, p. 205 f.

  19. Cf. R. Komiya, K. Yokobori: Japan's industrial Policies in the 1980s, Tokyo 1991, p. 99.

  20. Cf. R. Komiya: The Japanese Economy: Trade, Industry, and Government, Tokyo 1988, p. 192.

  21. Cf. GATT, Trade Policy Review: Japan 1992. pp. 85 f. and 226 ff.

  22. Cf. R. Komiya, M. Itoh, op. cit., Japan's International Trade and Trade Policy, 1955–1984, p. 193.

  23. Cf. GATT, op. cit., Trade Policy Review: Japan 1990, p. 174 f.

  24. Cf. W. R. Rapp: Japan's Invisible Barriers to Trade, in: T. Pugel and R. G. Hawkins (eds.): Fragile Interdependence, New York 1986, p. 33.

  25. CF. W. Pape, op. cit. Nichttarifäre Handelshemnisse in Japan (Teil I), p. 16ff., in: Japaninfo, No. 16, 26.11. 1990, p. 16.

  26. Cf. GATT, op. cit. Trade Policy Review: Japan 1992, p. 90 ff.

  27. Cf. MITI: Newly-Adopted Import Promotion Measures, Tokyo 1993, pp. 24–27 and 31–33.

  28. Cf. GATT, op. cit., Trade Policy Review: Japan 1992, p. 115 ff.

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  1. Eberhard-Karis-Universität Tübingen, Germany

    Gunther Schnabl

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Schnabl, G. Balance of trade and government intervention — Japan as a role model?. Intereconomics 31, 189–196 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02928602

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