IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ime/imedps/07-e-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Neoclassical Analysis of the Postwar Japanese Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Keisuke Otsu

    (Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan (E-mail: keisuke.ootsu@boj.or.jp))

Abstract

Two key features of the postwar Japanese economy are the delay of catch up during the 50s followed by rapid economic growth during the 60s and early 70s and the consistent decline in labor supply during the rapid growth period. A standard neoclassical growth model can quantitatively account for the Japanese postwar growth patterns of capital, output, consumption and investment taking the destruction of capital stock during the war and postwar TFP growth as given. The decline in labor can be explained by strong income effects caused by subsistence consumption during the rapidly growing period.

Suggested Citation

  • Keisuke Otsu, 2007. "A Neoclassical Analysis of the Postwar Japanese Economy," IMES Discussion Paper Series 07-E-01, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:ime:imedps:07-e-01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/research/papers/english/07-E-01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fumio Hayashi & Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "The 1990s in Japan: a lost decade," Chapters, in: Paolo Onofri (ed.), The Economics of an Ageing Population, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Cooley, Thomas F & Hansen, Gary D, 1989. "The Inflation Tax in a Real Business Cycle Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 733-748, September.
    3. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1997. "Engines of growth: Domestic and foreign sources of innovation," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 235-259, May.
    4. Fumio Hayashi & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "The 1990s in Japan: A Lost Decade," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 206-235, January.
    5. Simon Gilchrist & John C. Williams, 2001. "Transition dynamics in vintage capital models: explaining the postwar catch-up of Germany and Japan," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-07, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Ohanian, Lee & Raffo, Andrea & Rogerson, Richard, 2008. "Long-term changes in labor supply and taxes: Evidence from OECD countries, 1956-2004," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1353-1362, November.
    7. Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Ayse Imrohoroglu & Kaiji Chen, 2006. "The Japanese Saving Rate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1850-1858, December.
    8. Kobayashi, Keiichiro & Inaba, Masaru, 2006. "Business cycle accounting for the Japanese economy," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 418-440, December.
    9. R. Anton Braun & Daisuke Ikeda & Douglas H. Joines, 2009. "The Saving Rate In Japan: Why It Has Fallen And Why It Will Remain Low," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(1), pages 291-321, February.
    10. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-92-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. V. V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2007. "Business Cycle Accounting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(3), pages 781-836, May.
    12. Saijo Hikaru, 2008. "The Japanese Depression in the Interwar Period: A General Equilibrium Analysis," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, September.
    13. Lawrence J. Christiano, 1989. "Understanding Japan's saving rate: the reconstruction hypothesis," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 13(Spr), pages 10-25.
    14. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1992. "Agricultural productivity, comparative advantage, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 317-334, December.
    15. Christiano, Lawrence J & Eichenbaum, Martin, 1992. "Liquidity Effects and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 346-353, May.
    16. Albert Ando & Dimitrios Christelis & Tsutomu Miyagawa, 2003. "Inefficiency of Corporate Investment and Distortion of Savings Behavior in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 155-190, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Parente, Stephen L & Prescott, Edward C, 1994. "Barriers to Technology Adoption and Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 298-321, April.
    18. R. Anton Braun & Toshihiro Okada & Nao Sudou, 2006. "U.S. R&D and Japanese Medium Term Cycles," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 06-E-6, Bank of Japan.
    19. Fumio Hayashi & Edward C. Prescott, 2008. "The Depressing Effect of Agricultural Institutions on the Prewar Japanese Economy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 573-632, August.
    20. Kaiji Chen & Ayşe İmrohoroğlu & Selahattin İmrohoroğlu, 2007. "The Japanese saving rate between 1960 and 2000: productivity, policy changes, and demographics," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 32(1), pages 87-104, July.
    21. Marimon, Ramon & Scott, Andrew (ed.), 1999. "Computational Methods for the Study of Dynamic Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198294979.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ippei Fujiwara & Keisuke Otsu & Masashi Saito, 2008. "The Global Impact of Chinese Growth," IMES Discussion Paper Series 08-E-22, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    2. Niizeki Takeshi, 2014. "Capacity utilization and the effects of energy price increases in Japan," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 241-266, January.
    3. 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).
    4. Shuhei Aoki & Julen Esteban-Pretel & Tetsuji Okazaki & Yasuyuki Sawada, 2010. "The Role of the Government in Facilitating TFP Growth during Japan’s Rapid-growth Era," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Keijiro Otsuka & Kaliappa Kalirajan (ed.), Community, Market and State in Development, chapter 4, pages 21-44, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Takeshi Niizeki, 2012. "Energy-Saving Technological Change in Japan," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd11-218, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    6. Otsu, Keisuke & Shibayama, Katsuyuki, 2022. "Population aging, government policy and the postwar Japanese economy," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Ko, Jun-Hyung, 2011. "Has the Government Lowered the Hours Worked? Evidence from Japan," MPRA Paper 30058, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Aoki, Shuhei & 青木, 周平, 2011. "A Model of Technology Transfer in Japan's Rapid Economic Growth Period," IIR Working Paper 11-05, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Keisuke Otsu & Katsuyuki Shibayama, 2016. "Population Aging and Potential Growth in Asia," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 33(2), pages 56-73, September.
    10. 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).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Otsu, Keisuke & Shibayama, Katsuyuki, 2022. "Population aging, government policy and the postwar Japanese economy," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Keisuke Otsu, 2011. "Accounting for Japanese Business Cycles: A Quest for Labor Wedges," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 29, pages 143-170, November.
    3. 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).
    4. Kaiji Chen & Ayşe İmrohoroğlu, 2017. "Debt in the US economy," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(4), pages 675-706, December.
    5. Ichiro Muto & Takemasa Oda & Nao Sudo, 2016. "Macroeconomic Impact of Population Aging in Japan: A Perspective from an Overlapping Generations Model," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 408-442, August.
    6. Otsu, Keisuke & Saito, Masashi, 2013. "Organizational dynamics and aggregate fluctuations: The role of financial relationships," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 3044-3058.
    7. Curtis, Chadwick C. & Lugauer, Steven & Mark, Nelson C., 2017. "Demographics and aggregate household saving in Japan, China, and India," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 175-191.
    8. Hansen, G.D. & Ohanian, L.E., 2016. "Neoclassical Models in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2043-2130, Elsevier.
    9. Braun, R. Anton & Körber, Lena Mareen, 2011. "New Keynesian dynamics in a low interest rate environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2213-2227.
    10. Ikeda, Daisuke & Saito, Masashi, 2014. "The effects of demographic changes on the real interest rate in Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 37-48.
    11. Miguel Sánchez-Romero, 2013. "The role of demography on per capita output growth and saving rates," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1347-1377, October.
    12. Imrohoroglu, Selahattin & Sudo, Nao, 2011. "Will a Growth Miracle Reduce Debt in Japan?," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(1), pages 44-56, January.
    13. Esteban-Pretel, Julen & Nakajima, Ryo & Tanaka, Ryuichi, 2010. "TFP growth slowdown and the Japanese labor market in the 1990s," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 50-68, March.
    14. Anton Braun, R. & Esteban-Pretel, Julen & Okada, Toshihiro & Sudou, Nao, 2006. "A comparison of the Japanese and U.S. business cycles," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 441-463, December.
    15. Esteban-Pretel, Julen & Sawada, Yasuyuki, 2014. "On the role of policy interventions in structural change and economic development: The case of postwar Japan," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 67-83.
    16. Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2013. "Demographic Dividends Revisited," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 30(2), pages 1-25, September.
    17. Aoki, Shuhei, 2011. "A Model of Technology Transfer in Japan's Rapid Economic Growth Period," MPRA Paper 29235, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Toshihiro Okada, 2018. "International R&D Spillovers, Innovation by Learning from Abroad and Medium-Run Fluctuations," Discussion Paper Series 183, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University.
    19. Takeshi Niizeki, 2012. "Energy-Saving Technological Change in Japan," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd11-218, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Hirakata, Naohisa & Sunakawa, Takeki, 2019. "Financial frictions, capital misallocation and structural change," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-1.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Japanese Postwar Growth; Neoclassical Growth Model; TFP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ime:imedps:07-e-01. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kinken (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imegvjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.