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The Role of the Government in Facilitating TFP Growth during Japan's Rapid Growth Era

Author Info

  • Shuhei Aoki

    (Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo)

  • Julen Esteban-Pretel

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)

  • Tetsuji Okazaki

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)

  • Yasuyuki Sawada

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)

Abstract

Japan experienced high growth of TFP following World War II. This paper studies the sources of this technological growth and documents the role played by different government policies in achieving such growth. We find that in nonagricultural sectors, TFP growth occurred at first through the import of foreign technologies via licensing, and subsequently through the innovation of its own technologies. In agriculture, TFP grew mostly through the development of its own technologies. The Japanese government played a part in the growth of TFP by directing the adoption of foreign technologies, promoting coordination of R&D activities, and setting up channels for the domestic diffusion of available technologies.

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Paper provided by CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo in its series CIRJE F-Series with number CIRJE-F-622.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2009cf622
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Cited by:

  1. 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.
  2. Daisuke Ikeda & Yasuko Morita, 2016. "The Effects of Barriers to Technology Adoption on Japanese Prewar and Postwar Economic Growth," IMES Discussion Paper Series 16-E-01, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.

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