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An Industrious Revolution In An East Asian Market Economy? Tokugawa Japan And Implications For The Great Divergence

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  • Osamu Saito

Abstract

This paper addresses a question raised by Jan de Vries' on the relationship between industriousness and the rise of the market in East Asia. Was the growing industriousness in Tokugawa Japan, as de Vries suggests, a substitute ‘for the absence of markets’? The examination refers to two versions of Chayanov's peasant farm model and their empirical relevance to the Tokugawa agrarian history, with special reference to the formation of labour‐intensive peasant farming (Akira Hayami's version of an industrious revolution), product specialisation, and the markets for production factors, land, and labour. Its implications for the Great Divergence debate are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Osamu Saito, 2010. "An Industrious Revolution In An East Asian Market Economy? Tokugawa Japan And Implications For The Great Divergence," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(3), pages 240-261, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:50:y:2010:i:3:p:240-261
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8446.2010.00304.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hayami, Akira, 1979. "Economic Development of Early Modern Japan," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 30(1), pages 39-48, January.
    2. de Vries, Jan, 1994. "The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 249-270, June.
    3. Kaoru Sugihara, 2007. "The Second Noel Butlin Lecture: Labour‐Intensive Industrialisation In Global History," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(2), pages 121-154, July.
    4. van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2008. "The road to the Industrial Revolution: hypotheses and conjectures about the medieval origins of the ‘European Miracle’," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 337-359, November.
    5. Allen, Robert C. & Bengtsson, Tommy & Dribe, Martin (ed.), 2005. "Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-Being in Asia and Europe," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199280681.
    6. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521719254.
    7. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521895026.
    8. Saito, Osamu, 1978. "The labor market in Tokugawa Japan: Wage differentials and the real wage level, 1727-1830," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 84-100, January.
    9. Saito, Osamu, 1989. "Bringing the Covert Structure of the Past to Light," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 992-999, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Osamu Saito, 2015. "Growth and inequality in the great and little divergence debate: a Japanese perspective," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 399-419, May.
    2. Tomoko Hashino, 2012. "Institutionalising Technical Education: The Case Of Weaving Districts In Meiji Japan," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(1), pages 25-42, March.
    3. Jan De Vries, 2011. "Industrious Peasants In East And West: Markets, Technology, And Family Structure In Japanese And Western European Agriculture," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 107-119, July.

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