Introduction to Japanese
Economy
Fall 2023
Syllabus
2024/1/17
Ryoichi Imai
International Student
Center, Kyushu University
My JTW Course Page
JTW Homepage
Contents
1. Course
Outline
2. Organization,
Attendance, and Other Requirements
3. Pre-requisites
4. Assessment
Details
5. Schedule
and Readings
Course
Outline
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.
Pre-requisite
None. Any knowledge on
macroeconomics or microeconomics will be useful.
Assessment
Details
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
Lecture 1 (10/3) Introduction
Concise History of Japan Overview - Wikipedia
Religion in Japan – Buddhism in Japan
(Wikipedia)
Shinto – Ise Shrine, Usa Shrine, Izumo Shrine, Itsukushima Shrine
Ancient Buddhism –
Houryuji, Todaiji
Amidism – Byodo-in, Chion-in, West Honganji, East Honganji
Zen – Tenryuji, Bairinji,
Eiheiji,
Lotus Sutra – Minobusan Kuonji
Concise
Geography of Japan
Prefectures in
Japan
Industry Distribution in Japan
Industries in
Hokkaido 2013
Industries
in Tohoku 2019
Industries in Kanto
Industries in Chubu
2019
Industries
in Kinki 2020
Industries in Chugoku
Industries in Shikoku
Profile of
Kyushu 2020
Industries in Okinawa
Lecture 2 (10/10) 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.
The
Real-Effective Foreign Exchange Rates
Purchasing Power Parity
(J)
Japanese
Economy changed not in 1990 but in 1997
BOJ
Governor Shirakawa (2012) Central
Banking: Before, During, and After the Crisis
Higuchi
(2015) Neets,
Freeters, and Job Separation for Elderly Care in Middle Age (J)
Kenjo Yoshikazu (2019) Japan’s economy is not so bad
(J)
National
Accounting of Japan (J)
Annual Report on
Economy and Fiscal Policies (J)
Secular Stagnation
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
Robert
Gordon Slides
MMT debate, Inside Money, and the Deficit Gamble
Does debts
rollover improve economic welfare?
Blanchard (2019) Public Debts and Low Interest
Rates
Robert
Barro (1974) Are
Government Bonds Net Wealth?
Marcus
Hagedorn (2018) Prices
and Inflation when Government Bonds are Net Wealth
Simon Wren-Lewis (2019) Should
we worry about temporarily raising government debt? Blanchard’s AEA Address
Charles Wyplosz
(2019) Olivier in
Wonderland
Auerbach and Hassett (2015) Capital taxation
in the 21st century
Lucrezia Reichlin, Adair Turner, Michael
Woodford 23 September 2019 Helicopter
money as a policy option
Kobayashi Keiichiro (2019) Confidence
in the JGBs (J)
Kobayashi Keiichiro (2019) Why has Deflation
Continued under Extraordinary Monetary Expansion? 日本語
Pak Katsutoshi (2019) A
Review of “The Modern Money Theory” by Randall Ray (J)
Matsuo Tadasu
(2019) A
Synthesis of Macroeconomics to Support the Anti-Austerity (J)
Shioji Tetsuro (2018) The FTPL
and the Non-Conventional Fiscal-Monetary Policies (J)
Kawagoe Masaaki and Hirose Tetsuki (2003) On the
Fiscal Theory of Price Level (J)
Miyao Ryuzo (2019) Does the
BOJ do the MMT policy? (J)
Takebe Masayoshi (2014) Considering
Japanese Government Debts in the Context of the Endogenous Money Supply
Theories (J)
Nakano Takeshi (2019) Understanding the Modern
Monetary Theory (video in J)
Noguchi Asahi (2019) A Critical Review
of the Modern Money Theory (J)
Lecture 3 (10/17)
Introduction 2
Lecture 4 (10/24)
Introduction 3
Lecture 5 (10/31) 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.
Carloｓ 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
Lecture 6 (11/7) The
Japanese Employment System (Rebick: Ch. 2)
Gordon, Robert J. (2006), Issues
in the Comparison of Welfare Between Europe and the United States.
Lecture 7 (11/14):
More on Labor Market
Issues
大卒求人倍率調査（Survey
on Job Openings for College Graduates）
長期労働統計（Labor
Market Statistics in the Long Run）
コロナ禍が労働市場に与える影響（The
Labor Market Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic）
Databook of
the International Labour Statistics (available only in Japanese (-.-))
Kocherlakota
(2010) Modern
Macroeconomic Models as Tools for Economic Policy
OECD indicators on
employment protection
black companies –
The Japan Times
black
company (Wikipedia)
Lecture 8 (11/21) The Lost Generation
junior labor
market tightness (Recruit Works)
Employment
Categories (JILPT)
Labor
shift between regular and non-regular employment (MHWL)
Eiji Oguma(2019) 日本社会のしくみ
(How does the Japanese Society Work?)
Lecture 9 (11/28) Economic Recovery and Inflation 1
Lecture 10 （12/5） Economic
Recovery and Inflation 2
Lecture
11 (12/12) Economic Recovery and Inflation 3
Lecture 12 (12/19)
Supplement: Coronavirus Pandemic and
the Economy 2022
(12/26) Make Up
(No Meeting)
-----Winter
Break-----
PART
II: Students' Presentations
Topic: World Economy in the Recovery from the Coronavirus Pandemic
Make a survey on the recovery of your home country from the Covid-19
pandemic. Focus on employment, inflation. nominal and real GDP, foreign
exchange rates, economic policies by the government, and reactions by people.
Each student is allowed to speak for 15 minutes.
Submit a presentation slide set consisting of less than 15 slides to the
File Sharing System before the presentation.
Convert your file to PDF and Name it as “LastName-FirstName-Economy” like Yamada-Taro-Economy.
Presentation 13 (1/9) 2 Denmark (Naoya),
China (Nakagami)
Presentation 14 (1/16) 5: UK (Charlie), Algeria (Linisa)-Morocco
(Salma), Spain (Bastien, Laurene)
Presentation 15 (1/23): 6: France (Victor, Jonas, Timothe), Germany
(Freddy), India (Shunki)
(1/30) Make Up： South Korea (Suhyeon, LeeKyoho),
Sweden (Norman), Mexico (Segio),
Final Take-home Examination (NEW 2024)
Extra Topics
Inequality Debates
Inequality
in Japan: Overview
Reconsidering
Inequality
Inequality in
Japan Updated
Income
Inequality and Government Policies in Japan (2020, Inoue, Japanese) slide
Inequality
2015 (in Japanese)
Globalization
and Inequality (in Japanese)
Branko Milanovic
The World Top
Income Database
Fukao (2021) Long-run Stagnation
of Labor Productivity and Real Wage
Autor,
Katz, and Kearney (2007), The Polarization of
the U.S. Labor Market
Thomas Piketty
Thomas
Piketty’s lecture at LSE 2014 on wealth inequality
Gabriel Zucman
Krusell and Smith (2014) Is
Piketty’s “Second Law of Capitalism” 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 Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’
--- (2014), Does
housing capital contribute to inequality? A comment on Thomas Piketty’s Capital
in the 21st Century
Extra: Labor Productivity in Japan
Japan Productivity
Center: International
Comparison of Labor Productivity
Kumano (2021) Has the replacement of
the emperor lowered labor productivity?
Nakao (2020) Five
Myths about Productivity part 1, part
2
Agriculture
Ministry
of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Accounting for
Agriculture and Food Industries, PDF
Miho Takizawa (2016) Labor Productivity
Comparison of Japan and the United States
Long-run Growth
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)
Kyoji Fukao (2018) Historical Insights
for the Long-run Stagnation of Japanese Economy (J)
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.
Social
Security
Angry
blog post sparks movement for improved day care
Japan’s
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.
Intellectual Property
Rights
*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
Hashimoto, Masanori and
Yoshio Higuchi [2005], Issues Facing the Japanese Labor Market, in Reviving
Japan's Economy, MIT Press.
Raymo, James M. and Miho
Iwasawa [2005], Marriage Market Mismatches in Japan: An Alternative View of the
Relationship between Women's Education and Marriage, American Sociological
Review, 70, October, 801-822.
Morishima, Michio (2000),
The Japanese Financial System: Its Solidarity and Vulnerability, in Japan at
a Deadlock, Macmillan UK.
TAKASHI OSHIO AND WATARU
SENO (2007), The
Economics of Education in Japan, The Japanese Economy, 35(1), 46-81.
Patricia Boling (2008): Demography,
Culture, and Policy: Understanding Japan's Low Fertility (Download pdf.
file.)
OECD Report (2002): Health
Care Reform in Japan
Porter and Teisberg (2004): Redefining
Competition in Health Care
Toshimitsu Shinkawa
(2006) The
politics of pension reform in Japan: Institutional legacies, credit-claiming
and blame avoidance, in Ageing and Pension Reform around the World.