Japanese Economic Development

The Japanese economy now vies with America as the greatest in the world and Japan's companies have become household names to us all. But how much do we really know about the forces that have made this possible? Penelope Francks has written this book for readers without prior knowledge of the subject, and in it she considers Japan's economic development since the mid-Nineteenth Century in the light of the issues and problems which face the nations of the Third World today. The book traces the roots of Japan's economic growth, looking at the policies and institutions through which industrialisation and agricultural development were achieved. It focuses not just on the emergence of great companies, but also on the experience of the millions of ordinary workers, in factories and workshops and on farms, who created the foundations of today's economic super-power. This lively book mixes detailed case study material with description and analysis of Japanese economic and social history, within the perspective of the development experience of the rest of the world.