Economic Changes and Macroeconomic Policy in Japan since 1955

Abstract

Various arguments have been developed concerning Japan's economic changes following World War II, which have stimulated widespread interest both inside and outside Japan, a reflection of Japan's high growth rate during that period and its expanding role in the world economy.1 In the present paper, we trace Japan's postwar economic development utilizing basic macroeconomic data to examine Japan's economic policy responses in this process. This examination is essential and fundamental in assessing Japan's economic development process, in considering future changes in the Japanese economy, and in examining the economic development of Asian NIES (newly industrializing countries), which are achieving economic development similar to the Japanese economy's high growth, in the light of the Japanese economy's process of change.