This unique book contains novel and in-depth research regarding economic development in Japan. The authors examine economic development in Japan from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Using general equilibrium growth accounting and the overlapping generations model, they analyze the...

The traditional education system in Qing China has been widely debated over the past decades. Some have argued it was efficient and furthered economic growth, while others have stressed its inefficient nature, which led to the introduction of the modern education system in the closing decades of...

Countries commencing industrialization with relatively low levels of agricultural productivity, hence low wages, enjoy advantages that can also prove host to daunting challenges. The chief advantage is a relatively elastic supply of labor for manufacturing; the chief challenge is how to free up...

While economic growth raises income and wealth and promotes financial intermediation, financial intermediation facilitates economic growth, since it raises the returns to investment. In this article we study the development of an important informal financial intermediary in Japan, the rotating...

Abstract It is argued here that – contrary to current conventional wisdom – an active market for corporate control is not an essential ingredient of either company law reform or financial and economic development. The absence of such a market in coordinated market systems during their modern...

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical research has shown that a sound and effective financial system is critical for economic development and growth. The financial system, however, is also subject to boom and bust cycles and fragility, with negative repercussions for the real economy. Further, the...

Abstract Proposing far-reaching reforms to the pension systems, the World Bank has recently suggested that the existing pay-as-you-go pension systems in many rich as well as poor countries, should be replaced by fully funded, mandatory, preferably private pensions, as the main pillars of the new...

This article deals with interesting oscillation pattern in electricity prices during the period of EU electric power supply liberalization process, its transition from infrastructure to market activity and during last economic crisis, when at first prices declined significantly, to be raised...

Using a newly-constructed panel data set which includes annual estimates of lending rates for 47 Japanese prefectures, we analyze why interest rates converged over the period 1884-1925. We find evidence that technological innovations and institutional changes played an important role in creating...