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E-book
Author Teranishi, Jūrō

Title Culture and institutions in the economic growth of Japan / Juro Teranishi
Published Tokyo : Springer, 2020

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Description 1 online resource (401 pages)
Series Studies in Economic History
Studies in economic history (Springer (Firm))
Contents Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- About the Author -- Glossary -- 1 The Culture and Institutions of Japan -- 1.1 Two Perspectives -- 1.1.1 Culture and Institutions -- 1.1.2 Transaction Costs vs Production Costs -- 1.2 Culture and Socio-Economic Performance -- 1.2.1 Mental Models and Cultural Traits -- 1.2.2 The Kyūdō (True-Way Pursuing) Principle -- 1.2.3 Trust and Information -- 1.2.4 Long-Term Changes in Internalized Culture -- 1.2.5 The North Theory and Tokugawa Japan -- 1.3 The Role of Institutions -- 1.4 The Plan of the Book -- 2 Mental Models and the Cost of Institutions
2.1 Conceptual Frameworks: Culture and Mental Models -- 2.1.1 Internalized and Behavioral Part of Culture -- 2.1.2 On the Model of Denzau and North -- 2.2 The Mental Models in Japan and the Occident -- 2.2.1 Internalized Beliefs in Japan -- 2.2.2 Internalized Beliefs in the Occident -- 2.2.3 Why Culture, Not Institutions, in Japan? -- 2.2.4 Internalized Value in the Occident and Japan -- 2.3 The Long-Term Flexibility of the Mental Models -- 2.4 On the Concept of Generalized Morality -- 2.4.1 Chain Relationships Among Small Groups -- 2.4.2 Generalizes Respect for Others -- 2.4.3 Summary
2.5 Discovery of Culture and Institutions in the Thinking of the Tokugawa Era -- 3 The Process of Long-Term Growth Before the Meiji Restoration -- 3.1 Chronology and Macro-Economic Overview -- 3.2 Sources of Economic Growth -- 3.2.1 Technical Progress and Sources of Agricultural Growth -- 3.2.2 Property Rights and the Growth of Agriculture -- 3.2.3 Patterns of Commerce -- Appendix: Industrial Technology, Population and Growth -- 4 Religious Changes in Kamakura-Era Japan -- 4.1 Cultural and Institutional Background: Initial Conditions -- 4.1.1 Institutional Background: The Ritsuryo System
4.1.2 Cultural Background: Introduction of Buddhism -- 4.2 Religious Reform in Japan -- 4.2.1 Radical Change in Socio-Economy -- 4.2.2 Deepened Denial of the Present Life -- 4.2.3 The Emergence of Kamakura New Buddhism -- 4.2.4 The Structure of Kamakura New Buddhism -- 4.2.5 Kenmitsu System Theory in the Context of Culture and Institutions -- 4.3 The Impacts of New Buddhism -- 4.3.1 Radical Changes in Lifestyle and Worldview -- 4.3.2 Affirmation and Negation of This World -- 4.3.3 The Ie as the Institutionalization of Kyūdō Behavior -- 4.3.4 The Dialectic Process
Appendix 1: The Basic Logic of Enlightenment (Satori) in Buddhism -- Appendix 2: The Theory of the Coexistence of Humans with Nature -- 5 Institutions and Trust Level During the Muromachi Era -- 5.1 Marketization, the Social Division of Labor and Feudalism -- 5.1.1 Feudalism and Land Ownership -- 5.1.2 The Acceleration of the Social Division of Labor -- 5.1.3 Defects in the Moral Code of Buddhism -- 5.2 The Collapse of Trust in the Muromachi Era and in the Warring States Period -- 5.2.1 Information Asymmetry -- 5.2.2 The Deterioration of Trust in the Muromachi Era
Summary This book gives a coherent explanation of the socio-economic dynamics of Japan from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries by means of the evolution of internalized culture and the role of culture in the ordering of the market. The author argues that not only institutions but also culture matters in the ordering of the market and economic behavior. In the Occident, institutions have been pivotal in structuring and ordering the market economy and coordinating incentives of economic agents, as is emphasized by Douglas North. The author of this book argues that culture, defined as historically transmitted beliefs and values specific to each nation, may fulfill similar roles by establishing conventions and norms of behavior of individuals. Japan before the Meiji Restoration (1868) seems to be a typical case. The book presents an analysis of the formation of its internalized part of mental model, owing to religious reform in Buddhism in the thirteenth century and the consequent emergence of commerce-based growth driven by a decline in transaction costs in the Tokugawa Era, from the seventeenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. Institutions had been largely inefficient due to serious cultural conflicts among classes, especially between the samurai and aristocrats. The relative costs of establishing and enforcing institutions were low in the Occident where internalized beliefs were based on the concept of public, by and large common among individuals; by contrast, in Japan, where internalized beliefs were strongly influenced by others nearby, that differed significantly among individuals, the costs were high because of difficulty in sharing mental models. The economic development of the Occident owed largely to the development of industrial technology nurtured under the development of various institutional devices to coordinate activities, whereas the economic growth of Japan during the Tokugawa Era was caused by the decrease in transaction costs in commercial activities owing to the standardization of conduct nurtured through the deliberate development of culture and to the efforts of small producers enhanced by religious motivation. After the Meiji Restoration, Occidental institutions and industrial technology flowed into Japan rapidly, and the Japanese enthusiastically absorbed the Occidental cultural system crystalized in Enlightenment values. At the same time, the struggle of Meiji leaders to establish national integrity and spirit was an attempt to adapt imported Occidental institutions to the traditional internalized culture and to maintain the merits of historical tradition as much as possible. The book argues that it is not easy to implement fusion or substitution of traditional internalized culture with any "advanced" culture of foreign societies
Notes 5.2.3 The Collapse of Trust and Turmoil in the Warring States Period
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed February 17, 2021)
Subject Economic development
Economic history
Economic policy
Economics
History
Religion
SUBJECT Japan -- Economic conditions -- History
Japan -- Economic policy -- History
Subject Japan
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9784431556275
4431556273