IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/not/notgep/11-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effects of the unequal treaties on normative, economic and institutional changes in 19th century Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Toshihiro Atsumi
  • Daniel M. Bernhofen

Abstract

Japan's mid 19th century transition from 200 years of self-imposed autarky to open trade is the main success story of East Asian integration into the world economy during the first wave of globalization (1850-1914). This article reviews the economic, institutional and normative changes within Japan that were triggered by the unequal treaties following Admiral Perry's arrival in 1853. These changes were instrumental for Japan's industrial success and catching up with the western powers on economic and military terms by the eve of World War I. We argue that Japan provides an interesting case study of a nation which was able to overcome, what economist Paul Romer has called 'idea gaps' (lack of ideas to produce economic value) and 'object gaps' (lack of factories, physical infrastructure) in the economic development process.

Suggested Citation

  • Toshihiro Atsumi & Daniel M. Bernhofen, 2011. "The effects of the unequal treaties on normative, economic and institutional changes in 19th century Japan," Discussion Papers 11/19, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notgep:11/19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/gep/documents/papers/2011/11-19.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul, 1993. "Idea gaps and object gaps in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 543-573, December.
    2. Ma, Debin, 2004. "Why Japan, Not China, Was the First to Develop in East Asia: Lessons from Sericulture, 1850-1937," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(2), pages 369-394, January.
    3. Sascha Becker & Ludger Woessmann & Sascha O. Becker, 2008. "Luther and the Girls: Religious Denomination and the Female Education Gap in 19th Century Prussia," CESifo Working Paper Series 2414, CESifo.
    4. Daniel M. Bernhofen & John C. Brown, 2004. "A Direct Test of the Theory of Comparative Advantage: The Case of Japan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(1), pages 48-67, February.
    5. Atsumi, Toshihiro, 2010. "Silk, regional rivalry, and the impact of the port openings in nineteenth century Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 519-539, December.
    6. Daniel M. Bernhofen & John C. Brown, 2005. "An Empirical Assessment of the Comparative Advantage Gains from Trade: Evidence from Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 208-225, March.
    7. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "Luther and the Girls: Religious Denomination and the Female Education Gap in Nineteenth‐century Prussia," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(4), pages 777-805, December.
    8. 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.
    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. Jean-Frédéric Morin & Sara Bannerman, 2015. "Tigers and Dragons at the World Intellectual Property Organization," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/186312, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

    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. Mathias Hoffmann & Toshihiro Okubo, 2012. "By a Silken Thread: regional banking integration and pathways to financial development in Japan's Great Recession," Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Discussion Paper Series 2012-021, Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Program.
    2. Hoffmann, Mathias & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2022. "‘By a silken thread’: Regional banking integration and credit reallocation during Japan's lost decade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Nicholas, Tom, 2011. "The origins of Japanese technological modernization," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 272-291, April.
    4. Masaki Nakabayashi, 2014. "Special Issue: Issues in Asia. Guest Editor: Laixun Zhao," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 254-271, May.
    5. Mathias Hoffmann & Toshihiro Okubo, 2021. "Comparative advantage and pathways to financial development: evidence from Japan’s silk-reeling industry," ECON - Working Papers 387, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    6. Niklas Potrafke, 2016. "Policies against human trafficking: the role of religion and political institutions," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 353-386, November.
    7. Sascha Becker & Francesco Cinnirella & Ludger Woessmann, 2010. "The trade-off between fertility and education: evidence from before the demographic transition," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 177-204, September.
    8. Valencia Caicedo, Felipe & Dohmen, Thomas & Pondorfer, Andreas, 2023. "Religion and cooperation across the globe," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 479-489.
    9. Fajgelbaum, Pablo & Redding, Stephen, 2014. "External integration, structural transformation and economic development: evidence from Argentina," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60285, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Becker, Sascha O. & Pfaff, Steven & Rubin, Jared, 2016. "Causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-25.
    11. Becker, Sascha O. & Rubin, Jared & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Religion in Economic History: A Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 14894, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Arye L. Hillman & Niklas Potrafke, 2018. "Economic Freedom and Religion," Public Finance Review, , vol. 46(2), pages 249-275, March.
    13. Sascha O. BECKER & Francesco CINNIRELLA, 2020. "Prussia Disaggregated: The Demography of its Universe of Localities in 1871," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 259-290, September.
    14. El-Mallakh, Nelly & Maurel, Mathilde & Speciale, Biagio, 2018. "Arab spring protests and women's labor market outcomes: Evidence from the Egyptian revolution," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 656-682.
    15. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    16. Fanyu Chen & Zi Wen Vivien Wong & Siong Hook Law, 2024. "Brain drain: what is the role of institutions?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 51(3), pages 605-628, September.
    17. Antonela Miho & Alexandra Jarotschkin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2024. "Diffusion of Gender Norms: Evidence from Stalin’s Ethnic Deportations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 475-527.
    18. Hasan, Iftekhar & Noth, Felix & Tonzer, Lena, 2023. "Cultural norms and corporate fraud: Evidence from the Volkswagen scandal," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 143-171, Spring.
    20. Riphahn & Caroline Schwientek, 2015. "What drives the reversal of the gender education gap? Evidence from Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(53), pages 5748-5775, November.

    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:not:notgep:11/19. 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: Hilary Hughes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cgnotuk.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.