A disparity exists between mainstream perception and reality with regard to American economic history. There is widespread belief among the public, media, and even some scholars that the U.S. amassed its wealth and prosperity from the adoption of exclusively free-market principles from the onset...

Japanese financial policies during the so called High Growth Period (HGP-roughly 1953-1973) stand at sharp contrast with the presumptions of the financial liberalization literature. Against the Japanese example, McKinnon (1991) and Horiuchi (1984) have argued, based on relatively high interest...