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Rating: 
Summary: unfortunately, arthritis is a chronic disease
Review: This is a timely book on the prospects for meaningful structural reform in the world's second largest economy, written by a long-time observer of Japan who served as a special advisor to Ambassador Walter Mondale in the Tokyo emabssy in the mid-1990s. Ed Lincoln examines the postwar Japanese economic model (an emphasis on indirect finance (banking) and a diminished role for shareholders in corporate governance; networks of affiliated firms (keiretsu); and government-led industrial policy) and the strains that globalization has placed on it. He argues that although the system has become sclerotic, that it satisfies the needs of enough political stakeholders to impede the formation of any stable coalition for fundamental reform. As a consequence, deregulation in Japan is often taken in half-steps, delivering far less than advertised by its proponents. Lincoln believes it is by no means certain that efforts underway will be sufficient to pull Japan out of its economic malaise.From a US standpoint, Lincoln argues that a weak Japanese economy is fundamentally against US interests. Japanese economic weakness is likely to contribute to policy tensions with the US, and Lincoln recommends that the US government pursue a "low-key" agenda of encouraging reform. The book is well documented with many tables and charts and fascinating examples.
Rating:
Summary: unfortunately, arthritis is a chronic disease
Review: This is a timely book on the prospects for meaningful structural reform in the world's second largest economy, written by a long-time observer of Japan who served as a special advisor to Ambassador Walter Mondale in the Tokyo emabssy in the mid-1990s. Ed Lincoln examines the postwar Japanese economic model (an emphasis on indirect finance (banking) and a diminished role for shareholders in corporate governance; networks of affiliated firms (keiretsu); and government-led industrial policy) and the strains that globalization has placed on it. He argues that although the system has become sclerotic, that it satisfies the needs of enough political stakeholders to impede the formation of any stable coalition for fundamental reform. As a consequence, deregulation in Japan is often taken in half-steps, delivering far less than advertised by its proponents. Lincoln believes it is by no means certain that efforts underway will be sufficient to pull Japan out of its economic malaise. From a US standpoint, Lincoln argues that a weak Japanese economy is fundamentally against US interests. Japanese economic weakness is likely to contribute to policy tensions with the US, and Lincoln recommends that the US government pursue a "low-key" agenda of encouraging reform. The book is well documented with many tables and charts and fascinating examples.
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