Introduction to Japanese Economy
Fall 2018
Syllabus
2019/02/25
Ryoichi Imai
International Student
Center, Kyushu University
Contents
2. Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements
The course is designed to provide some introductory knowledge of Japanese economy. Students will learn the essence of historical and institutional background of Japanese Economy. In this course, we will focus on the structural issue of Japanese economy as a background of the 10 year depression since the crush of the bubble economy in 1990.
Key words of this course: Corporate organization and governance, financial system and corporate groups, competition and business strategies, exchange rate regimes and international capital flows, productivity gap across industries, aging society, education and meritocracy, economic development and class stratification, and others.
Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements
Lecture notes are to be uploaded on the course website.
The class starts with a series of lecture given by the instructor. Later the students present some selected reading materials. Each course attendant is required to do at least ONE oral presentation of the articles assigned by the instructor. The presenter must make a set of PowerPoint Slides. There is one midterm or final examination, which might be open-book or take home one.
None. Any knowledge on macroeconomics or microeconomics will be useful.
You can get two credits by satisfying the following three requirements.
1. Class Attendance and Discussion 20%
According to the government guideline, no students are allowed to take the course final examination, if they do not show up in more than 1/3 of the class meetings. The government has set up a more rigorous grading standard on credits.
2. Presentation 40%
3. Final Examination 40%
If you need to acquire three credits in accordance with the credit transfer policy of your home university, you can get three credits by making a second presentation in different topics in addition to the requirements as above.
Schedule and Readings (subject to Change)
PART I: Lecture
1. (10/03) E01. Introduction
We will review the development of Japanese economy during the last two decades focusing on the four crisis episodes:
Crash of the Bubble Economy 1990
Asia Currency Crisis 1997-98
Crash of the IT bubble 2000.
The 'Subprime' Crisis 2007-
Krugman, Paul (1994), The Myth of Asia's Miracle, Foreign Affairs.
Productivity Slowdown and Structural Reforms
Hayashi, Fumio and Edward C. Prescott [2002], The 1990s in Japan: A Lost Decade, Review of Economic Dynamics, 206-235.
Prescott, Edward C. [2002], Prosperity and Depression, American Economic Review, 92(2), 1-15. Downloadable in the campus.
Caballero, Hoshi, and Kashyap (2008), Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan, American Economic Review, 98(5), 1943–1977.
Japanese Economy changed not in 1990 but in 1997
BOJ Governor Shirakawa (2012) Central Banking: Before, During, and After the Crisis
Iwamoto (2011): The Quantity Theory under Liquidity Trap (J)
Higuchi (2015) Neets, Freeters, and Job Separation for Elderly Care in Middle Age (J)
Reuters (2015) Japan PM calls for steps to achieve a $5 trillion economy (E) (J)
Secular Stagnation
The Real-Effective Foreign Exchange Rates
FRB (2013) The Great Moderation 1980-2007
Eggertsson and Mehrotra (2014) A Model of Secular Stagnation, VOXEU
Lawrence Summers: Secular Stagnation Page
Robert Gordon (2016) The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Princeton University Press
Robert Gordon (2017a) Secular Stagnation: A Supply-Side View
Robert Gordon (2017b) AI and Employment: Misplaced Fears
Robert Gordon (2018) Monetary Tools, Financial Reforms, and the Next Financial Crisis
2. (10/17) Introduction 2
3. (10/24) Introduction 3
4. (10/31) Introduction 4
5.
(11/07) E02. Corporate
Governance
Iwai, Katsuhito (2002), The Nature of the Business Corporation: Its Legal
Structure and Economic Functions, Japanese Economic Review 53(3),
243-273.
Carlo Ghosn – Japan
Times
The Nissan Case
Modelling the Japanese
Firms – Masahiko Aoki
Toward
a Comparative Institutional Analysis
A
Model of the Firm as a Stockholder-Employee Cooperative Game (Download it
in Kyudai)
The
Share Economy - Martin Weitzman
6.
(11/14) E03. The
Japanese Employment System (Rebick: Ch. 2)
Gordon,
Robert J. (2006), Issues
in the Comparison of Welfare Between Europe and the United States.
7. (11/21) E04. More on Labor Market Issues
8.
(11/28) E04. More on Labor Market Issues
Kocherlakota (2010) Modern
Macroeconomic Models as Tools for Economic Policy
OECD indicators on
employment protection
black companies – The Japan Times
black
company (Wikipedia)
junior labor market
tightness (Recruit Works)
9.
(12/05) Inequality Debates
Inequality in Japan: Overview
E06. Reconsidering
Inequality
Inequality in
Japan Updated
Inequality
2015 (in Japanese)
Globalization
and Inequality (in Japanese)
Branko Milanovic
The World Top
Income Database
Autor, Katz,
and Kearney (2007), The
Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market
Thomas Piketty
Thomas
Pikettyfs lecture at LSE 2014 on wealth
inequality
Gabriel Zucman
Krusell and Smith (2014) Is Pikettyfs gSecond Law of
Capitalismh Fundamental?
Matthew Rognlie (2014) A Note on
Piketty and Diminishing Returns to Capital
Bonnet, Bono, Chapelle, and Wasmer (2014), Capital
is not back: A comment on Thomas Pikettyfs eCapital in the 21st Centuryf
--- (2014), Does
housing capital contribute to inequality? A comment on Thomas Pikettyfs Capital in the 21st Century
10. (12/12) Inequality Debates continued
11. (12/19) Inequality
Debates continued
-----Winter
Break-----
12. (1/09) Long-run
Development
Clark and Ishii (2012) Social
Mobility in Japan, 1868-2012: The
Surprising Persistence of the Samurai, University of California, Davis
Japan and the
Great Divergence, 725 to 1874@
voxeu
article
Agricultural
Land Survey 1598-1872 (in Japanese)
PART II:
Students' Presentations
Rosenbluth and Thies (2010): Japan Transformed
13. (1/15 Tuesday: Confirmed): no class on 16 due to my administration
obligation
Chapters 1, 2, 3
Presenters: Yassine, Lea, Emma, Caroline
14. (1/23) Chapters 4, 5, 6
Presenters: Kostas, Mike, Sabine, Caroline
15. (1/30) Chapters 7, 8, 9, Epilogue
Presenters: Doris, Darylle, Heoyon, Kostas
16. Final Exam
Final Take-home
Examination (NEW 2019)
Extra Readings
General
Hiroshi Yoshikawa (2001), The Aging of Society and Fiscal Policy, in Japan's Lost Decade, International House of Japan.
Hiroshi Yoshikawa (2001), Exchange Rates, in Japan's Lost Decade, International House of Japan.
Hiroshi Yoshikawa (2001), Japan's Manufacturing and Nonmanufacturing Industries, in Japan's Lost Decade, International House of Japan.
Angry
blog post sparks movement for improved day care
Japanfs top buzzword candidates for 2016
Financial System
*Hoshi, Takeo and Anil K. Kashyap (2004) Costs and Benefits of Keiretsu Financing, in Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan, Cambridge MA: MIT Press
Hoshi, Takeo and Anil K. Kashyap (2005), Solutions to Japan's Banking Problems: What Might Work and What Definitely Will Fail, in Reviving Japan's Economy, MIT Press
Hoshi Takeo (2006) Economics of the Living Dead.
Allen, F. and M. Zhao (2007) The Corporate Governance Model of Japan: Shareholders are not Rulers.
Baumol, Litan, and Schramm (2007), Capitalism: The Big-Firm Wealthy Economies: Preventing Retreat and Stagnation, in Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity., Yale University Press.
Iwamoto, Yasushi (2002), The Fiscal Investment and Loan Program in Transition, Journal of the Japan and International Economics 16, 583-604.
Technology and Innovation
Gordon, Robert J. [2000], Does the "New Economy" Measure up to the Great Inventions of the Past?, Journal of Economic Perspectives 14, 49-74.
*Scotchmer (2004), Innovation and Incentives, Ch.2.
Global Financial Crises
Allen and Gale (2007), Understanding Financial Crises, Ch.1
Ito, Takatoshi (2004) Exchange rate regimes and monetary policy cooperation: Lessons from East Asia and Latin America, Japanese Economic Review, 55(3), 240-266,
McKinnon, Ronald, and Kenichi Ohno (1997), Dollar and Yen, MIT Press.
Adrian, T., and H. S. Shin (2008) Liquidity and Financial Contagion
The Becker-Posner Blog: Bail Out the Big Three Auto Producers? Not a Good Idea-Becker, Nov. 16, 2008.Robert E. Hall and Susan E. Woodward (2008), The Financial Crisis and the Recession: What is Happening and What the Government Should Do.
Labor Market and Social Security