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The Last or Lasting Samurai? The Impact of Secondary Education Expansion on Elite Attainment and Occupational Sorting after Japan's Meiji Restoration

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  • Hidehiko Ichimura

    (Department of Economics, The University of Arizona and Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo)

  • Yasuyuki Sawada

    (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo)

  • Yutaro Takayasu

    (Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University)

  • Mari Tanaka

    (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo and Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University)

Abstract

When societies transition from hereditary to meritocratic systems, to what extent does educational expansion broaden access to elite positions and change inherited patterns of occupational sorting? We study Japan after the Meiji Restoration, which abolished samurai hereditary privileges in public-sector positions and modernized education. Exploiting cohort-specific discontinuities in access to secondary schooling created by the expansion of public secondary schools, we find that greater access increased elite attainment among both samurai and commoner families, but most additional elites entered sectors historically associated with their family background. Many had non-elite fathers, indicating greater upward intergenerational mobility into elite status.

Suggested Citation

  • Hidehiko Ichimura & Yasuyuki Sawada & Yutaro Takayasu & Mari Tanaka, 2026. "The Last or Lasting Samurai? The Impact of Secondary Education Expansion on Elite Attainment and Occupational Sorting after Japan's Meiji Restoration," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1280, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    • Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2026cf1280
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