CAS IR 368/EC 368:  Contemporary East Asian Economics

 

Semester I, 2004/5

MWF 9:00-10:00 a.m.

CAS 316

 

 

Professor William Grimes

 

Office Hours:  M 1-3 p.m., W 10 a.m.-12 noon,                                 154 Bay State Rd., Rm. 400

            F 10-11 a.m. or by appt.                                                          Tel:  353-9420

http://www.bu.edu/wgrimes                                                                wgrimes@bu.edu

 

            This course considers the economic development of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan from the end of World War II to the present.  It will emphasize the institutions and historical conditions which both contributed to and slowed development in the three economies.  We will consider similarities and differences in their experiences of economic development, and examine some of the challenges facing each economy today. 

 

            The first half of the course will consider JapanÕs post-war economy.  We will try to understand how Japan moved from impoverishment and military defeat to industrial, technological, and financial superpower.  While we will discuss the costs of development, the focus will be on the economic and political factors that allowed Japan to grow in such an astounding way throughout much of the post-war period.  We will also address at length the problems of the Japanese economy since the early 1990s, and the issue of why Japanese institutions have done such a poor job of addressing them.

 

            Most of the second half will consider Korean and Taiwanese post-war development.  We will consider closely the contrast between earlier and later policies, as well as the persistence of economic institutions.  This contrast highlights two questions:  What do the experiences of Korea and Taiwan tell us about the role of government policies in economic growth?  And, how do the political and economic goals of government leaders either reinforce or contradict one another?  We will also look at the differing effects of the Asian Financial Crisis on the two countries.

 

 

 

Requirements

            Students are expected to attend all classes and keep up with the weekly reading assignments (approximately 80-100 pp. per week).  There will be one in-class midterm and a final exam.  Attendance will be taken regularly.  The weights are as follows:

 

 

                        Midterm                                  35%

                        Final Exam                              55%

                        Attendance/Participation          10%

                            

 

NOTE:  If you miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to ensure that you obtain any assignments or handouts.  All assignments and handouts, in addition to the syllabus, will be made available on my webpage.

 

Readings

 

 

Thomas Cargill, Michael Hutchison, and Takatoshi Ito, Financial Policy and Central Banking in Japan (MIT Press, 2000).

 

David Flath,  The Japanese Economy.  Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2000.

 

Edward Graham, Reforming KoreaÕs Industrial Conglomerates.  Washington, DC:  Institute for International Economics, 2003.

 

Li, Kuo-Ting, The Evolution of Policy Behind TaiwanÕs Development Success, 2nd edition.  Singapore:  World Scientific, 1995.

 

 

 

 

The above books are on sale at the bookstore and on reserve in the library.  Photocopies of all other chapters and articles in the syllabus are available through the BU Library system, either through the E-Journals resource or on reserve in either Mugar or Pardee (SMG) library.


Course Outline

The Contemporary East Asian Economies

MWF 9-10 a.m.


 

 

Wed. 9/8                     East Asia:  Historical and Geographical Overview 

 

 

Fri. 9/10                      Film:  Reinventing Japan

 

 

Part I:  Post-War Japanese Development

 

Mon. 9/13                   Occupation to Oil Shocks I

Flath, Chapt. 3.

 

 

Wed. 9/15                   Macroeconomic Issues Ð Savings and Investment

Flath, Chapt. 4, 6.

 

Fri. 9/17                      Review

 

Mon. 9/20                   Labor Management and Labor Movement

Flath, Chapt. 15.

 

Wed. 9/22                   The Japanese Production System:  Kanban and QCs

Michael Cusumano, The Japanese Automobile Industry:  Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota (Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 262-307, 320-342.

 

Fri. 9/24                      Review

 

Mon. 9/27                   Keiretsu:  Corporate Alliances

Flath, Chapt. 12.

 

Wed. 9/29                   Industrial and Technology Policy

Flath, Chapt. 9; Daniel Okimoto, Between MITI and the Market (Stanford, 1989), pp. 55-86.   

 

Fri. 10/1                      Review                                    

 

Mon. 10/4                   Deregulation

Edward Lincoln, Arthritic Japan (Brookings, 2001), Chapt. 3; Ulrike Schaede, ÒIndustry Rules:  From Deregulation to Self-Regulation,Ó in Ulrike Schaede and William Grimes, eds., JapanÕs Managed Globalization (M.E. Sharpe, 2002), pp. 191-214.                  

 

Wed. 10/6                   Innovation

Michael Porter, Hirotaka Takeuchi, and Mariko Sakakibara, Can Japan Compete? (Perseus, 2000), Chapt. 5; D.H. Whittaker, ÒCrisis and Innovation in Japan,Ó in William Keller and Richard Samuels, eds., Crisis and Innovation in Asian Technology (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 57-85.

 

Fri. 10/8                      Review            

                       

 

Wed. 10/13                 Finance and Financial Policy in the 1980s:  Bubble and Crash

Thomas Cargill, ÒJapan, the Asian Crisis, and Financial LiberalizationÓ (mimeo, in library)                 

 

Fri. 10/15                    Finance and Financial Policy in the 1990s:  Recession and Policies for Recovery

Cargill, et al., Chapts. 2, 3.

 

Mon. 10/18                 Continuing Stagnation and Policy Issues

Cargill, et al., Chapts. 5, 6.      

 

Wed. 10/20                 Central Bank and Financial Supervision Reforms

Cargill, et al., Chapt. 4.

 

Fri. 10/22                    Review

 

Mon. 10/25                 Midterm Exam

 

Wed. 10/27                 Trade Frictions

Flath, Chapt. 8; C. Fred Bergsten, Takatoshi Ito, and Marcus Noland, No More Bashing (Institute for International Economics, 2001), Chapts. 4-5.

 

Fri. 10/29                    Outward Investment

Arthur Alexander, In the Shadow of the Miracle (Lexington Books, 2002), pp. 93-114.

 

Mon. 11/1                   Exchange Rates

Arthur Alexander, In the Shadow of the Miracle (Lexington Books, 2002), 115-138.          

 

Wed. 11/3                   Fiscal Implications of JapanÕs Aging Society

Hiromitsu Ishi, Making Fiscal Policy in Japan (Oxford, 2000), Chapt. 10.

 

 

Part II:  Korea and Taiwan in the Post-War Period

 

Fri. 11/5                      Korea and Taiwan:  From Import-Substitution to Export-Led Growth

Li, ÒIntroductory EssayÓ and Chapt. 1.                     

 

Mon. 11/8                   Korea:  Industrial Targeting in the Park Years

Graham, Chapt. 2 and Appendix 2.1.

 

Wed. 11/10                 Korea:  The Growth of the Chaebol

Graham, Chapt. 3; Eun Mee Kim, Big Business, Strong State (SUNY, 1996), Chapt. 3.

 

Fri. 11/12                    Review

 


Mon. 11/15                 State and Finance in Korea [donÕt forget inflation and retrenchment under Chun]

Soon Cho, The Dynamics of Korean Economic Development (Institute for International Economics, 1994), Chapt. 6.

 

 

Wed. 11/17                 State and Finance in Taiwan

Li, Chapt. 3; Tzong-shian Yu, ÒThe Evolution of Commercial Banking and Financial Markets in Taiwan,Ó Journal of Asian Economics, vol. 10 (1999), pp. 291-307 [available in Mugar e-journals].                    

 

Fri. 11/19                    Review

 

 

Mon. 11/22                 Korea and Taiwan:  From Smokestacks to Computer Chips

Li. Chapt. 7;  Charles Harvie and Hyun-Hoon Lee, KoreaÕs Economic Miracle:  Fading or Reviving? (Palgrave, 2003), Chapt. 6; Vincent Wei-cheng Wang, ÒDeveloping the Information Industry in Taiwan:  Entrepreneurial State, Guerrilla Capitalists, and Accommodative Technologists,Ó Pacific Affairs, vol. 68, no. 4 (Winter 1995-96), pp. 551-576 [available in Mugar e-journals].

 

THANKSGIVING BREAK

 

Mon. 11/29                 After the Asian Financial Crisis Ð Financial Restructuring[would prefer an article - maybe Asian Survey - that deals with financial scandals]

After the [discussion of Hanbo, scandals, etc.]

Jin-Wook Choi, ÒRegulatory Forbearance and Financial Crisis in South Korea,Ó Asian Survey, vol. 42, no. 2, 2002, pp. 251-275 [available through Mugar e-journals]; Cho Yoon-je, ÒKoreaÕs Financial Sector Restructuring after the Crisis,Ó Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies, vol. 13 (2003), pp. 105-142.                     

 

Wed. 12/1                   After the Asian Financial Crisis Ð Corporate Restructuring[would prefer an article - maybe Asian Survey - that deals with financial scandals]

After the [discussion of Hanbo, scandals, etc.]

Graham, Chapt. 5; Gregory Noble and John Ravenhill, ÒThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?  Korea, Taiwan, and the Asian Financial Crisis,Ó in Gregory Noble and John Ravenhill, The Asian Financial Crisis and the Architecture of Global Finance (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 80-107.

 

Fri. 12/3                      Review

 

 

Mon. 12/6                   Confronting Economic Maturity in Taiwan

Christopher Howe, ÒThe Taiwan Economy:  The Transition to Maturity and the Political Economy of Its Changing International Status,Ó China Quarterly, vol. 148 (1996), pp. 1171-1195 [available in Mugar e-journals].

 

Wed. 12/8                   Production Networks in East Asia

Edward Lincoln, East Asian Economic Regionalism (Brookings, 2004), Chapts. 3, 4.

 

Fri. 12/10                    Review

 

Mon. 12/13                 Overall Review of Post-War East Asian Economies