Firms and Industrial Organization in Japan

Studies of Japan's economy are full of misconceptions. The conventional view of the Japanese economy argues that the Japanese economic system, described by such keywords as dual structure, keiretsu, corporate groups, main banks, and subcontract, played a critical role in Japan's economic development, and that under the guise of industrial policy the Japanese government has intervened heavily in the private sector, which has contributed much to Japan's industrial success.

Neither of these argument is persuasive, however. Without using these keywords, the author demonstrates that Japan has for a long time been a world of exchange by agreement rather than by coercion, and that the standard principles of economics explain the dominant patterns of the Japanese economic phenomenon.

Providing detailed information on firms and industrial organization in Japan, this volume is a doorway both to a proper understanding of Japan's economy and the study of actual firms and the market in general.