The Japanese EconomyJonathan AllenThe prewar economy of Japan was a Socialist economy and the country wasruled by an emperor up to WW2 and after WW2 it started to lean towards a mixedmarket economy until what it is today although its government is Socialist it isleaning towards a mixed market economy. The Japanese economy is a mixed economy that leans towards market, it islike this because almost all business are run by private corporations or peopleand that is the market in the economy. And the reason that they are thriving andare so competitive is because of the trade tariffs and quotas that thegovernment has in place. These regulations include heavy taxes on some productsand denial on some others for example: the way Japan will only let certainforeign cars in to Japan and even then they are so heavily taxed that theaverage Japanese person cant pay that much and will have to buy a Japanese madecar and at the same time in other countries they are selling their cars for lessthan anyone else in that country and that is what they do with most of theirproducts and is how they get a trade surplus year after year. Manufacturing is the most important economic activity in Japan itaccounts for about 28% of its GDP. The Japanese people import more than halfof the products that they manufacture from other countries in their crudest formand manufacture them into transportation equipment, iron, steel, chemicals,petroleum and coal products and textiles.
Most of these products are produced bylarge corporations with many employees and the happier the employees are themore it will be done. An aspect of a market economy that Japan has is the way the companiestreat their workers. The way the Japanese treat their workers is so differentform the way we treat our workers here. The Japanese are so much more respectfultowards their employer( the exact opposite from other countries especially thosewith a centralised economy) and often work for one employer until retirement. Some of the special treatment that the workers receive is housing; some of thecompanies namely Honda have a special housing unite for their workers and theirfamilies and a company cemetery for all the workers and their families. Becauseof this the employees work habits are much more productive and a larger profitcan be turned and they can get a jump on the competition.
In centralised economies very few lucturies are returned to the peopleand in market economies most of them are, in Japan there are to kinds of peoplefarmers and city dwellers, the farmers get no lucturies and live in poorconditions while the city dwellers on the other hand get just about all thelucturies like mass transit, hospitals and if you have a job financial security. The government keeps whatever is necessary and whatever the people will buy andwill export the rest. In the farmlands there is a strong sense of a commandsystem and in the city there is capitalistic economy. Farming is one of thelarger employers in Japan it employs 9% of the work force but it only accountsfor 3% of the GDP. There are few government owned companies the only ones theyown are some power plants, railways and some airlines as well as the commutingservices and civil services. The government employs about 1 in 10 people inJapan mostly civil services.
There are some strict regulations set forth by thegovernment to insure that the countries stores are filled with Japanese goodsrather than forgien goods and they include trade restrictions such as tariffs,bands and quotas. After reviewing all this evidence the Japanese economy is leaningheavily towards a market economy but does have some socialist government viewsand laws but the market out weighs the command. BIBLIOGRAPHYComptons learning company 1988. InComptons encyclopedia (vol.
12 pp. 34-39. ). Chicago: devision of encyclopedia Britannica, inc. John J.
Curran(May 18, 1992). Why Japan will emerge stronger. Fortune,pp. 46-60. Ross Laver( nov. 1991).
The company man. Macleans. pp. 55-57.
Richard Swift(May 1992). Prisoners of prosparity. New Internationalist. pp. 4-8.
