Japan’s experiences under the Bretton Woods System: capital controls and fixed exchange rate

Abstract

Japan joined the IMF in August 1952 (under Article 14) and GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) in 1955. Japan's ‘high growth era’, the period from 1955 to the outbreak of the first oil crisis in 1973-74, coincided with the liberal international framework of the IMF and GATT. The course of Japanese economic policy during the post-war era has been largely determined by its balance of payments position. Japan's overall economic experience shows that the direct and indirect resistance to radical reforms resulted in maintaining the low level of the exchange rate and contributed to economic growth.