Japan since 1980

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Kamal Nath

"In a short time, India has proven itself a major economic power, generating billions for its citizens and for the international community. How did India become a global market mover? And just as important, how can the Western world tap into the vast resources of commerce that India has, mine its phenomenal growth potential in a wide array of industries, and create a profitable relationship with the world's largest democracy?" "Few authors are as qualified to answer those questions as Kamal Nath. Known at home and throughout the world as the face of twenty-first century India, as well as a major architect of India's reform, Mr. Nath has spent his entire professional life within the corridors of power, helping to shape the policies that have catapulted his nation to world prominence." "In India's Century, Mr. Nath goes beyond the "flat-world" view to reveal the roots of the Indian economic miracle. With a compelling blend of economic analysis, political insight, and cultural observation, he traces his nation's emergence from colonial rule in 1947 through four decades of planned economies, the gradual liberalization of India's economy in the 1990s, and finally, the rise of the Indian global giant." "India's Century is must reading for business strategists, public policy makers, and every thoughtful reader who wishes to understand more about the world's largest, most vibrant democracy and the role it is likely to play on the global stage in the years ahead."--Jacket.

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Tony Fu-Lai Yu

This is the first systematic economic study of the nature, operation and contribution of entrepreneurship to the growth of Hong Kong. From a new entrepreneurial perspective of economic development, the author argues that the success of Hong Kong is attributable principally to adaptive entrepreneurship: * product imitation, * small scale enterprise, * subcontracting, * spatial arbitrage. Using these entrepreneurial strategies, local manufacturers learned from foreign firms and imitated their products. By selling improved commodities at lower prices, they competed against the original suppliers from more advanced countries. Being alert to opportunities and responding rapidly to change, Hong Kong's entrepreneurs shifted their production activities from one product to another; from higher cost to lower cost regions; from traditional fishing and agriculture to manufacturing, and then to finance and other services. These entrepreneurial activities have brought about structural transformation in Hong Kong's economy, enabling the country to compete with advanced economies. This study concludes that any policy recommendation on economic development should be based on analysis that incorporates entrepreneurship and provides a reappraisal of the role of government in economic development.

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Thomas M. Huber

This innovative work demystifies the Japanese economy by considering it as a strategic system. Exploring its essential structure and dynamics, both domestic and international, Thomas M. Huber offers provocative insights into Japan's postwar economy by comparing it to Western national security and military systems rather than exclusively to Western commercial institutions. The author highlights the remarkable similarity of "Japan, Inc." to some of the structures and policy dynamics of the U.S. military especially, but also shows how other public institutions offer useful analogies for deciphering Japanese economics. Japan's domestic strategies are mirrored in the international realm with MITI, the Export Import Bank of Japan, JETRO, trading companies, and other agencies pursuing national policy goals. The objective of this far-flung activity is international influence, achieved by acquiring production and factors of production.

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Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson

"Early Economic Thought in Spain was published in 1978, and in her Foreword the author mentions that the discussion of long-term inflation in Spain from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries ought to be of interest since "we live in a time of inflation". The book can also be read as a history of Spanish responses to the decline of empire. At a number of points the author indicates that her study can be understood as a supplement to Joseph Schumpeter's History of Economic Analysis (1954). The chief contribution of this book is a review and summary of the development of economic thinking from the earliest days until about 1740 in one of the most important countries of Europe. Despite, or maybe because, Spain was in decline much of the last two centuries of this period, we are provided, as it were, with a ring-side seat for watching intellectuals come to terms with the forces behind such decline. Some of it, such as inflation, debt-financing, military over-extension, mercantilist protectionism, the preference of elites for their own economic benefit at the expense of the state, and more, will be familiar to readers who are familiar with the economic history of the last hundred years. If the distant mirror of history can help us avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, here is one place to find it. This book is dedicated to the memory of Leonard Liggio (1933-2014)"--