Japan's Ultimately Unaccursed Natural Resources-Financed Industrialization

69 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2016 Last revised: 24 Jun 2023

See all articles by Randall Morck

Randall Morck

University of Alberta - Department of Finance and Statistical Analysis; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research

Masao Nakamura

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business

Date Written: November 2016

Abstract

Japan’s successful industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th century largely exhausted its then abundant natural resources. Rather than exemplifying rapid development in the absence of natural resources, Japan shows how laissez-faire government and successfully transplanted classical liberal institutions, including active stock markets, exorcised a natural resources curse that undermined its prior state-led industrialization strategy. Japan’s post-WWII reconstruction relied little on natural resources and more on bank financing and state direction, but was not an example of an initial industrialization.

Suggested Citation

Morck, Randall K. and Nakamura, Masao, Japan's Ultimately Unaccursed Natural Resources-Financed Industrialization (November 2016). NBER Working Paper No. w22865, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2876430

Randall K. Morck (Contact Author)

University of Alberta - Department of Finance and Statistical Analysis ( email )

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Masao Nakamura

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