Edward J. Lincoln

The Heisei Economy: Puzzles, Problems, Prospects

The Heisei era started with high expectations as the economy was growing rapidly and the stock and real estate markets were booming. However, performance since then has been disappointing. The economy has grown but at a very low rate. Poor economic performance called into question the vaunted Japanese economic model, and considerable change has occurred to the institutional and regulatory framework in which business operates. Nonetheless, the economy continues to exhibit a number of distortions and the growth rate remains low. This essay explores what went wrong with the economy and raises questions concerning its impact on other aspects of Japanese society.

Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry are Reforming Japanese Capitalism (review)

farmers, and within the ministry itself when MAFF tries to accommodate both special and public interests. George Mulgan points to a more severe policy environment in the future, including further market-opening pressure under the WTO, a recent emphasis shift in the Japanese government toward free-trade agreements, and increasing criticism of MAFF’s policymaking performance. As the author predicts, MAFF eventually will have to face “an ebbing of its interventionist power” (pp. 182–83) like that experienced by MOF and METI over the last decade.

Japan's Network Economy: Structure, Persistence, and Change (review)

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The structural analysis of the network economy 2. The origins of Japanese network structures 3. The evolution of a corporate network: a longitudinal network analysis of 259 large firms 4. Exchange and control: explaining corporate ties: a longitudinal dyad analysis 5. Intervention and redistribution: how keiretsu networks shape corporate performance 6. Japans next generation industrial architecture Bibliography Index.