Japan's metamorphosis from a less developed country to one of the world's most important industrial nations was closely connected with increasing foreign pressures. Where did they result from and what will be their consequences for the country's economic policy?

The rise in unemployment is often blamed not only on the slowdown in economic growth but also on the increasing pressure to rationalise. Greater rationalisation should, however, have led to an increase in labour productivity, but this has not happened in the Federal Republic of Germany nor in a...