The Role of Agriculture in the Early Phase of Industrialization: Policy implications of Japan's experience

Kasahara, Shigehisa (1996): The Role of Agriculture in the Early Phase of Industrialization: Policy implications of Japan's experience. Published in: EAST ASIAN DEVELOPMENT: Lessons for a new global environment , Vol. No.5, No. Prtoject sponsored by the Government of Japan (February 1996): pp. 1-21.

Abstract

The paper presents a brief theoretical and historical explanation of the transformative process of the Japanese economy from a stagnant agrarian society to a modern industrial one. Specifically, it analyzes the role of agriculture in the early stage of Japan's development in the last three decades of the 19th century, when the Meiji Government carried a determined political campaign to strengthen the country and to catch up with the West. By the time of World War I, the country had managed to be recognized as a significant industrial power, the then only non-Western case. Initially, the Government allocated fairly large amounts of financial resources to the agricultural sector, which resulted in a rapid growth in it. Much of the increased output or income was then transferred - through the application of a land tax by the Government and as a result of the savings and investment patterns of landlords - to the manufacturing sector in order to finance its rapid expansion. The paper also highlights various elements of particularity that the Japanese Government had to face at the initial stage of industrialization, and to contrast them with the present situation of typical commodity-producing countries.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: the role of agriculture in development, Japanese agriculture, Meiji period, the role of the state in industrialization, the developmental state
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H52 - Government Expenditures and Education; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers; N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics ; Industrial Structure ; Growth ; Fluctuations > N15 - Asia including Middle East; N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N55 - Asia including Middle East; N - Economic History > N6 - Manufacturing and Construction > N65 - Asia including Middle East; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O14 - Industrialization ; Manufacturing and Service Industries ; Choice of Technology; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O23 - Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O57 - Comparative Studies of Countries; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy

References

ALLEN, GC (146). A Short Economic History of Modern Japan, 1867-1937. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

BORTON, H (1970). Japan's Modern Century. From Perry to 1970 (2nd ed.). New York. The Ronald Press Company.

BRONFENBRENNER, M (1961). "Some lessons of Japan's economic development, 1853-1938", Pacific Affairs. 34 (1) 7-27

GHOSE, A. (1993). "Global changes, agricultural and economic growth in the 1980s: A case study of four Asian countries", in A. Singh and H. Tabatabai (eds.) 91-117.

GRABOWSKI, R (1985). "A historical reassessment of early Japanese development", Development and Change. 16 (2) 235-250.

GRABOWSKI, R (1991). "Economic development and the traditional sector: A comparison of Japanese and African experience", The Developing Economies. 29(1) 3-18.

HAYAMI, Y and RUTTAN, VW (1971). Agricultural Development: An international perspective. Baltimore: the Johns Hopkins University Press.

HEMMI K (1971). "Primary product exports and economic development: the case of silk", in Ohkawa, K et al. (eds.) 303-323.

ISLAM, N (1960). Foreign Capital and Economic Development: Japan, India and Canada. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co.

JOHNSON, BF and MELLOR (1961). "The role of agriculture in economic development", The American Economic Review. 51(4) 566-593.

JORGENSEN, DW (1961). "The development of a dual economy", The Economic Journal. 71, 309-334.

KARSHENAS, M. (1995). Industrialization and Agricultural Surplus: A comparative study of economic development in Asia. London: Oxford University Press.

LEWIS, WA (1954). "Development with unlimited supply of labour", The Manchester School. 22, 139-192.

LEWIS, SR Jr. (1967). "Agricultural taxation in a developing country", in SOUTHWORTH H. and JOHNSTON BF. (eds.) pp. 459-496.

LOCKWOOD, WW (1954). The Economic development of Japan: Growth and structural change, 1868-1938. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

LOCKWOOD, WW (ed.) (1964). The State and Economic Enterprise in Japan: Essays in the political economy of growth. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

MISAWA, T. (1974). "Agricultural Development in Modern Japan" in ISKAM N. (ed.) 314-334

NAKAMURA, J. (1965). "Growth of Japanese agriczlurre", in LOOKWOOD, WW (ed.) 249-325.

OGURA, T. (ed.) (1963). Agricultural Development in Meiji Japan. Tokyo: Japan FAO Association.

OHKAWA, K. and ROSOVSKY H. (1960). "The role of agriculture in modern Japanese economic development", Economic Development and Cultural Change. 9(1) 43-67.

OSHIMA, H. (1965). "Meiji fiscal policy and agricultural progress", in LOCKWOOD, WW (ed.) 353-389.

RANIS, G and FEI, JCH (1961). "A theory of economic development", The American Economic Review, 51(4) 533-565.

SINGH, A and TABTABAI, H. (eds.) (1993). Economic Crisis and Third World Agriculture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

SINHA, RP (1969), "Unresolved issue in Japan's early eco0nomic development", Scottish Journal of Political Economy. 5(3)109-151.

SOUTHWIRTH, HM and JOHNSTON BF (eds.) (1967). Agricultural Development and Economic Growth. Ithica: Cornell University Press.

TAKAHASHI, K. (1969). The Rise and Development of Japan's Modern Economy: The basis for "miraculous" growth. Tokyo. The Jiji Press, Ltd.

YAMAZAKI, I. and HIRATO, A. (1978). "Industrialization and external relations: comparative analysis of Japan's historical experience and contemporary developing countries' performance", Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics. 18 (2) 33-61.