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The effects of barriers to technology adoption on japanese prewar and postwar economic growth

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  • Ikeda, Daisuke
  • Morita, Yasuko

Abstract

Following the start of modern economic growth around the end of the 19th century, Japan’s economy had substantially lagged behind leading economies before World War II, but achieved rapid catch-up – the growth miracle – after the war. To explain the patterns, we build a dynamic model and examine the role of barriers to technology adoption. We find that such barriers hampered catch-up in the prewar period and explain about one-third of the postwar miracle. Taking a historical perspective, we argue that factors that acted as the barriers include low capacity to absorb technology, economic and political frictions with the outside world, and a lack of sufficient competition.

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  • Ikeda, Daisuke & Morita, Yasuko, 2020. "The effects of barriers to technology adoption on japanese prewar and postwar economic growth," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:55:y:2020:i:c:s0889158319300528
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jjie.2019.101061
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kim, Yong Jin & Lee, Duk Hee, 2020. "Technology convergence networks for flexible display application: A comparative analysis of latecomers and leaders," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. Rachana Vidhi & Prasanna Shrivastava & Abhishek Parikh, 2021. "Social and Technological Impact of Businesses Surrounding Electric Vehicles," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Japanese economy; Barriers to technology adoption; Investment specific technology; Postwar growth miracle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N75 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

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