1980s Bubble Economy of Japan

>BACKGROUND ON JAPAN>Japan is an Asian island nation whose 122 million inhabitants occupy four major islands and a number of smaller islands (Hunter, 1994, p. 804). As a political entity, the country dates back to about 500 B.C. ,>The Japanese population is remarkably homogeneous in an ethnic context (Hunter, 1994, p. 806). Ethnic Japanese account for 99.5 percent of the country's citizens, while most of the remaining onehalf of onepercent are ethnic Koreans. Approximately 885 thousand foreigners reside in Japan, while approximately 498 thousand Japanese citizens reside outside of the country. Adjusting for these residence patterns still leaves the resident population of Japan 98.4 percent ethnically Japanese. Japan is also highly unified in a religious context (Hunter, 1994, p. 810). Although the country has no official state religion, approximately 108 million Japanese are adherents of Shintoism. Thus, approximately 88 percent of the Japanese population share

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tates. Conventional western economic wisdom holds that the "economic system exists to serve the wants of consumers . . . . Business managers . . . are driven to do consumers' bidding not by benevolence but by the search for profits in a competitive marketplace. To serve their stockholders, they must serve the public by innovating and holding down costs" (Blinder, 1990, p. 21). In Japan, however, priority derives to the producer, not to the consumer (Ito, 1993, pp. 4347. Further, profits are not sought primarily for stockholders, but rather to serve "as the wellspring of growth which they see as an integral part of nationbuilding" (Blinder, 1990, p. 21). Japanese companies typically pursue strategies designed to create longterm profitability, as opposed to shortterm profitabilitythe typical perspective of most American firms (Ito, 1993, pp. 7788. According to western economic theory, longterm profits should be reflected in equity stock prices. In Japan, however, "managerial decisions are rarely driven by stock prices" (Blinder, 1990, p. 21). This fact remained true even during the four years of the Bubble Economy. Significant levels of some resources required by Japan must be acquired through importation
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Some common words found in the essay are:
World Bank, Bubble Economy, United Beyond, Economy Significant, United Conventional, United Japan, Japan Goldstein, Economic Advisers, According Japanese, Police Agency, japanese economy, 1993 pp, bubble economy, blinder 1990 21, blinder 1990, 1990 21, ito 1993 pp, hunter 1994, ito 1993, yakuza income, industrial policy, wilson 1985, world bank 1994, 1994 pp 3032, turner 1994 pp,
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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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