The Japanese Economy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Japan has the second largest capitalist economy in the world (third, if China is included and if its output is evaluated at purchasing power parity). Japan’s economic history has been marked by several phases since the beginning of its modernization in the 19th century: fast growth, miracle growth, deceleration, and stagnation. The main purpose of this course is to understand this history and to place it in context by relating it to the broader subject of economic development and by making analytical comparisons to other countries, especially the United States. The course has four main themes: (1) Japanese economic growth and its economic miracle in the context of economic development more generally; (2) slowdown and stagnation in the past decade; (3) transition to a more effective economic structure; and (4) other key topics such as trade, deregulation, and research and development.