IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/09001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the Role of Policy Interventions in Structural Change and Economic Development: The Case of Postwar Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Julen ESTEBAN-PRETEL
  • SAWADA Yasuyuki

Abstract

In this paper, we study the structural change occurring in Japan's post-World War II era of rapid economic growth. We use a two-sector neoclassical growth model with government policies to analyze the evolution of the Japanese economy in this period and to assess the role of such policies. Our model is able to replicate the empirical behavior of the main macroeconomic variables. Three findings emerge from our policy analysis. First, neither price and investment subsidies to the agricultural sector, nor industrial policy play a crucial role in the rapid postwar growth. Second, while a government subsidy for families in urban areas could have facilitated migration from the agricultural to the non-agricultural sector, such a policy would not have improved the overall performance of the Japanese economy. Finally, had there existed a labor migration barrier, the negative long-run level effect on output would have been substantial.

Suggested Citation

  • Julen ESTEBAN-PRETEL & SAWADA Yasuyuki, 2009. "On the Role of Policy Interventions in Structural Change and Economic Development: The Case of Postwar Japan," Discussion papers 09001, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:09001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/09e001.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gollin, Douglas & Parente, Stephen L. & Rogerson, Richard, 2007. "The food problem and the evolution of international income levels," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1230-1255, May.
    2. Douglas Gollin & Stephen L. Parente & Richard Rogerson, 2004. "Farm Work, Home Work, and International Productivity Differences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(4), pages 827-850, October.
    3. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Andrew F. Newman, 1998. "Information, the Dual Economy, and Development," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(4), pages 631-653.
    4. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 2005. "Human Capital and Technology Diffusion," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 935-966, Elsevier.
    5. Margarida Duarte & Diego Restuccia, 2010. "The Role of the Structural Transformation in Aggregate Productivity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 129-173.
    6. Restuccia, Diego & Yang, Dennis Tao & Zhu, Xiaodong, 2008. "Agriculture and aggregate productivity: A quantitative cross-country analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 234-250, March.
    7. H. Uzawa, 1971. "On a Two-Sector Model of Economic Growth," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: F. H. Hahn (ed.), Readings in the Theory of Growth, chapter 3, pages 19-26, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Minami, Ryoshin, 1968. "The Turning Point in the Japanese Economy," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 19(3), pages 220-229, July.
    9. Hayami, The late Yujiro & Godo, Yoshihisa, 2005. "Development Economics: From the Poverty to the Wealth of Nations," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780199272716.
    10. Selahattin Imrohoroglu & Ayse Imrohoroglu & Kaiji Chen, 2006. "The Japanese Saving Rate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1850-1858, December.
    11. Howard Pack & Kamal Saggi, 2006. "Is There a Case for Industrial Policy? A Critical Survey," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 267-297.
    12. Beason, Richard & Weinstein, David E, 1996. "Growth, Economies of Scale, and Targeting in Japan (1955-1990)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 286-295, May.
    13. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Razin, Assaf & Tesar, Linda L., 1994. "Effective tax rates in macroeconomics: Cross-country estimates of tax rates on factor incomes and consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 297-323, December.
    14. 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.
    15. Ryoshin Minami, 1968. "The Turning Point in the Japanese Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(3), pages 380-402.
    16. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-92-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Pack, Howard & Saggi, Kamal, 2006. "The case for industrial policy : a critical survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3839, The World Bank.
    18. Flath, David, 2014. "The Japanese Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198702405.
    19. Gary D. Hansen & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "Malthus to Solow," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1205-1217, September.
    20. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    21. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1992. "Agricultural productivity, comparative advantage, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 317-334, December.
    22. Robertson, Peter E, 1999. "Economic Growth and the Return to Capital in Developing Economies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 577-594, October.
    23. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1993. "A theory of real wage growth in LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 243-269, December.
    24. 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.
    25. John S. Landon-Lane & Peter E. Robertson, 2007. "Reassessing The Impact Of Barriers To Capital Accumulation On International Income Differences," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(1), pages 147-154, February.
    26. 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.
    27. Rustichini, Aldo & Schmilz, James Jr., 1991. "Research and imitation in long-run growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 271-292, April.
    28. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2014. "Cluster-Based Industrial Development," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-38511-6, December.
    29. Keijiro Otsuka, 2006. "Cluster‐Based Industrial Development: A View From East Asia," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 57(3), pages 361-376, September.
    30. Vollrath, Dietrich, 2009. "How important are dual economy effects for aggregate productivity?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 325-334, March.
    31. Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francisco & Pintea, Mihaela I., 2009. "A quantitative exploration of the Golden Age of European growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1437-1450, July.
    32. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2001. "The U.S. Structural Transformation and Regional Convergence: A Reinterpretation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(3), pages 584-616, June.
    33. Lee, Hiro, 1993. "General equilibrium evaluation of industrial policy in Japan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 25-40.
    34. John Laitner, 2000. "Structural Change and Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(3), pages 545-561.
    35. Yoshiro Miwa & J. Mark Ramseyer, 2004. "Directed Credit? The Loan Market in High‐Growth Japan," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 171-205, March.
    36. Robert E. Lucas, Jr., 2004. "Life Earnings and Rural-Urban Migration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(S1), pages 29-59, February.
    37. Solow, Robert M., 2005. "Reflections on Growth Theory," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 3-10, Elsevier.
    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. Alonso-Carrera, Jaime & Raurich, Xavier, 2018. "Labor mobility, structural change and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 292-310.
    2. Hirakata, Naohisa & Sunakawa, Takeki, 2019. "Financial frictions, capital misallocation and structural change," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-1.
    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. Ferraz, Diogo & Moralles, Herick Fernando & Costa, Naijela Silveira da & Nascimento, Daisy do, 2022. "Economic complexity and human development: comparing standard and slack-based data envelopment analysis models," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    6. MIYAZAWA Kensuke, 2011. "Measuring Human Capital in Japan," Discussion papers 11037, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Structural change and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 699-707.
    8. Kensuke Miyazawa, 2017. "Measuring Human Capital in Japan," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 13(3), pages 241-268, November.
    9. Waldemiro Francisco Sorte Jr., 2016. "State intervention for industrial growth: a comparison between Brazil and Japan," International Journal of Public Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1/2), pages 1-27.
    10. Aoki, Shuhei, 2012. "A simple accounting framework for the effect of resource misallocation on aggregate productivity," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 473-494.
    11. 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.
    12. Sim Seung-Gyu & Oh Seungjoon, 2017. "Economic growth and labor market friction: a quantitative study on Japanese structural transformation," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-38, January.
    13. Ferraz, Diogo & Moralles, Hérick Fernando & Suarez Campoli, Jéssica & Ribeiro de Oliveira, Fabíola Cristina & do Nascimento Rebelatto, Daisy Aparecida, 2018. "Economic Complexity and Human Development: DEA performance measurement in Asia and Latin America," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 839-853.
    14. Ye, Longfeng & Robertson, Peter E., 2019. "Hitting the Great Wall: Structural change and China's growth slowdown," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.

    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. Herrendorf, Berthold & Rogerson, Richard & Valentinyi, Ákos, 2014. "Growth and Structural Transformation," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 855-941, Elsevier.
    2. Ju, Jiandong & Lin, Justin Yifu & Wang, Yong, 2015. "Endowment structures, industrial dynamics, and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 244-263.
    3. Jonathan Temple & Ludger Wößmann, 2006. "Dualism and cross-country growth regressions," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 187-228, September.
    4. John S. Landon‐Lane & Peter E. Robertson, 2009. "Factor Accumulation And Growth Miracles In A Two‐Sector Neoclassical Growth Model," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(2), pages 153-170, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Antonio Saravia & Carlos Gustavo Machicado & Felix Rioja, 2014. "Productivity, Structural Change and Latin American Development," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 610-624, August.
    7. Yang, Dennis Tao & Zhu, Xiaodong, 2013. "Modernization of agriculture and long-term growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 367-382.
    8. Alonso-Carrera, Jaime & Raurich, Xavier, 2018. "Labor mobility, structural change and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 292-310.
    9. Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "The dual economy in long-run development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 287-312, December.
    10. Monteforte, Fabio, 2020. "Structural change, the push-pull hypothesis and the Spanish labour market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 148-169.
    11. Wingender, Asger Moll, 2015. "Skill complementarity and the dual economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 269-285.
    12. Teignier, Marc, 2018. "The role of trade in structural transformation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 45-65.
    13. Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "The dual economy in long-run development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 287-312, December.
    14. Dalila Nicet-Chenaf & Eric Rougier, 2009. "Human capital and structural change: how do they interact with each others in growth," Post-Print hal-00798441, HAL.
    15. Keigo Nishida, 2014. "Agricultural productivity differences and credit market imperfections," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(8), pages 1262-1276, December.
    16. Carlos Garriga & Aaron Hedlund & Yang Tang & Ping Wang, 2023. "Rural-Urban Migration, Structural Transformation, and Housing Markets in China," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 413-440, April.
    17. Been-Lon Chen & Shian-Yu Liao, 2015. "The Role of Agricultural Productivity on Structural Change," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 971-987, November.
    18. Gangopadhyay, Kausik & Mondal, Debasis, 2021. "Productivity, relative sectoral prices, and total factor productivity: Theory and evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    19. Ye, Longfeng & Robertson, Peter E., 2019. "Hitting the Great Wall: Structural change and China's growth slowdown," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Unjung Whang, 2017. "Structural Transformation and Comparative Advantage: Implications for Small Open Economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 743-763, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    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:eti:dpaper:09001. 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: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.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.