Book launchThursday 19 February 2015
6:00pm – 7:00pm
The Great Transformation of Japanese Capitalism
Drinks reception from 7:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
By Sébastien Lechevalier
Published by Routledge
In the 1980s the performance of Japan’s economy was an international success story, and led many economists to suggest that the 1990s would be a Japanese decade. Today, however, the dominant view is that Japan is inescapably on a downward slope. Rather than focusing on the evolution of the performance of Japanese capitalism, this book reflects on the changes that it has experienced over the past 30 years, and presents a comprehensive analysis of the great transformation of Japanese capitalism from the heights of the 1980s, through the lost decades of the 1990s, and well into the 21st century.
This presentation posited an alternative analysis of the Japanese economic trajectory since the early 1980s, and argues that whereas policies inspired by neo-liberalism have been presented as a solution to the Japanese crisis, these policies have in fact been one of the causes of the problems that Japan has faced over the past 30 years. Crucially, this book seeks to understand the institutional and organisational changes that have characterised Japanese capitalism since the 1980s, and to highlight in comparative perspective, with reference to the ‘neo-liberal moment’, the nature of the transformation of Japanese capitalism. Indeed, the arguments presented in this book go well beyond Japan itself, and examine the diversity of capitalism, notably in continental Europe, which has experienced problems that in many ways are also comparable to those of Japan.
The Great Transformation of Japanese Capitalism will appeal to students and scholars of both Japanese politics and economics, as well as those interested in comparative political economy.
You can watch a recording of the event here:
About the contributors
Dr Sébastien Lechevalier
Dr Sébastien Lechevalier is Associate Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris), President of Fondation France Japon de l’EHESS (EHESS Paris 日仏財団; http://ffj.ehess.fr/), and director of the French network of Asian Studies coordinated by CNRS (GIS-Reseau Asie). Specialist of the Japanese economy, he is the author of several books and articles, including The Great Transformation of Japanese Capitalism (Routledge, 2014, Iwanami Shoten, forthcoming, 2015) and of ‘Bringing Asia into the Comparative Capitalism Perspective’, a special issue of the Socio Economic Review (April 2013). He is currently leading a research program entitled Labor and Finance in Asia: Understanding Organizational and Institutional Changes (in collaboration with T. Hoshi (Stanford), M. Sako (Oxford), H. Miyajima (Waseda) and Y. Tiberghien (UBC)). Other research interests include inequalities, innovation, and industrial dynamics.
Professor Arthur Stockwin (Chair)
Professor Arthur Stockwin is Emeritus Fellow of St. Antony’s College and the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford. His publications include Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan(Routledge, 2003), and Governing Japan (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). Professor Stockwin is joint General Editor (with Roger Goodman) of the Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies series. In 2004, he received The Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese Government in recognition of his tireless efforts to promote Japanese Studies in the UK.