How Japan–US Economic Interdependence Changed from 1985 to 1990: Some Findings from Price-adjusted MITI Intercountry Input–Output Tables

Abstract

This paper consists of two parts. First, constant-price Japan–US intercountry input–output (IO) tables are compiled, based on Japan–US IO tables of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for 1985 and 1990, and the relative producer prices of both countries, which are estimated by the ‘peeling off’ method from OECD purchasing power parity data. Second, a factor decomposition analysis is carried out to show changes in Japan–US economic interdependence between 1985 and 1990. The Leontief inverse matrices of intercountry IO tables are decomposed into three matrices, which reflect domestic repercussion effects, spillover effects to the other country and feedback effects of own final demand from the other country. Then, a traditional decomposition analysis of changes in production for both countries is applied to see how both countries' economic interdependence changed. It is found that Japan–US economic interdependence moved from a pattern of Japan's dependence on the US to an almost equally interdependent pattern, although the degree of dependence was still higher in Japan in 1990. At the same time, there are significant industrial structural changes in the relationship between both countries, as a result of the significant appreciation of the yen relative to the dollar from 1985 to 1990.