Japan's Economy: Present, Past, & Future
A DRAFT of a preface to the Japanese-language edition of “Slouching Towards Utopia”…
The great Simon Kuznets, winner of the Economics Nobel Prize in 1971, may or may not have been the first person to say: “There are four kinds of countries: rich countries, poor countries, Argentina, and Japan”. Whoever said this was right: Japan’s economic experience since the late 1800s is the most impressive and the most heartening thing in all the economic history of the 20th century. And the political history of Japan since 1870 has a very good middle and end as well, after a beginning it which it unfortunately catches the virus of modern imperialism from the European countries that break open Tokugawa-era isolationism. The future of Japan? That is large in the hands of my Japanese readers and their compatriots.
Japan is the prime example of one of the four patterns followed by 20th century economies. It is a remarkable example, a heartening story, and an impressive accomplishment.