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A Half Century of Trans-Pacific Competition: Price level indices and productivity gaps for Japanese and U.S. industries, 1955-2012

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  • Dale W. JORGENSON
  • Koji NOMURA
  • Jon D. SAMUELS

Abstract

Trans-Pacific competition between Japanese and U.S. industries has provided powerful incentives for mutually beneficial economic cooperation between Japan and the United States. The benefits would be greatly enhanced by the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, an international agreement that would involve Japan, the United States, and 10 additional countries of the Asia-Pacific region. In this paper, we analyze competition between Japanese and U.S. industries in detail over more than a half century. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities for improving productivity performance in both countries. We first present new estimates of price level indices for Japan and the United States over the period 1955-2012. These indices are key indicators of international competitiveness between the two countries, often expressed as over-valuation or under-valuation of the Japanese yen relative to the U.S. dollar. We provide price level indices for outputs and inputs of 36 industries and for the two economies as a whole. The inputs at the industry level include capital, labor, energy, materials, and services (KLEMS). For an economy as a whole, output is gross domestic product (GDP) and the inputs are capital and labor services. We use our price level indices to generate new estimates of productivity gaps for the two countries and for individual industries. The productivity gap is an indicator of the efficiency of production. A wide Japan-U.S. productivity gap that existed in 1955 contracted for more than three decades, and Japan came close to parity with the United States in 1991. After the collapse of the "bubble economy" in Japan, the Japan-U.S. productivity gap widened again and only a few industries in Japan retained a productivity advantage over their U.S. counterparts in 2012. We conclude that industries sheltered from international competition offer the greatest opportunities for improvements in productivity performance.

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  • Dale W. JORGENSON & Koji NOMURA & Jon D. SAMUELS, 2015. "A Half Century of Trans-Pacific Competition: Price level indices and productivity gaps for Japanese and U.S. industries, 1955-2012," Discussion papers 15054, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:15054
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dale Jorgenson & Koji Nomura, 2007. "The Industry Origins of the US-Japan Productivity Gap," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 315-341.
    2. Hamada, Koichi & Okada, Yasushi, 2009. "Monetary and international factors behind Japan's lost decade," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 200-219, June.
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    4. Robert Inklaar & Marcel Timmer, 2007. "International Comparisons of Industry Output, Inputs and Productivity Levels: Methodology and New Results," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 343-363.
    5. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2005. "Productivity, Volume 3: Information Technology and the American Growth Resurgence," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 3, number 0262101114, December.
    6. Kyoji Fukao, 2013. "Explaining Japan's Unproductive Two Decades," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 8(2), pages 193-213, December.
    7. Koji NOMURA & Kozo MIYAGAWA, 2015. "The Japan-U.S. Price Level Index for Industry Outputs," Discussion papers 15059, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
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    Cited by:

    1. Yoko Konishi & Yoshihiko Nishiyama, 2020. "Efficiency of the Retail Industry and Inelastic Supply," International Association of Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(2), pages 134-166, June.
    2. Akihito Asano & Rod Tyers, 2016. "Japan's oligopolies: potential gains from third arrow reforms," CAMA Working Papers 2016-03, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    3. Kyoji Fukao & Tatsuji Makino & Tokihiko Settsu, 2021. "Human Capital And Economic Growth In Japan: 1885–2015," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 710-740, July.
    4. Yoko Konishi & Yoshihiko Nishiyama, 2020. "Efficiency of the Retail Industry and Inelastic Supply," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(2), pages 134-166, June.
    5. Jon Samuels & Erich Strassner, 2019. "Toward a Global Integrated Industry-level Production Account: A Proposal," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 36, pages 7-33, Spring.
    6. Asano, Akihito & Tyers, Rod, 2019. "Japan's oligopolies: Potential economy wide gains from structural reforms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 361-375.
    7. Kyoji FUKAO & Kenta IKEUCHI & Hyeog KWON & YoungGak KIM & Tatsuji MAKINO & Miho TAKIZAWA, 2015. "Lessons from Japan's Secular Stagnation," Discussion papers 15124, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. Yoko KONISHI, 2017. "Global Service Value Chain in Japan: Inbound tourism cases," Policy Discussion Papers 17011, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Kyoji FUKAO & Taisuke KAMEDA & Kota NAKAMURA & Ryoichi NAMBA & Masahiro SATO, 2017. "Measurement of Deflators and Real Value Added in the Service Sector," Economic Analysis, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 194, pages 9-44, May.
    10. Koji NOMURA & Kozo MIYAGAWA, 2015. "The Japan-U.S. Price Level Index for Industry Outputs," Discussion papers 15059, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Yoko KONISHI & Yoshihiko NISHIYAMA, 2016. "Efficiency of the Retail Industry: Case of inelastic supply functions," Discussion papers 16054, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    12. Yoko KONISHI & Koji NOMURA, 2015. "Energy Efficiency Improvement and Technical Changes in Japanese Industries, 1955-2012," Discussion papers 15058, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    13. Kyoji FUKAO & YoungGak KIM & Hyeog KWON, 2021. "Sources of Growth and Stagnation in the Japanese Economy: An Analysis Based on Data for Listed Firms Spanning More Than Five Decades," Discussion papers 21094, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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