Semester I, 2003/04
Monday 2:00-5:00 p.m.
IRC 101, 154 Bay State Rd.
Professor William Grimes
154 Bay State Rd., Rm. 400
Tel: 353-9420 wgrimes@bu.edu
Office Hours: Mon. 10-12 a.m.,
Wed. 1-3 p.m., Fri.. 10-11, or by appt.
This course will address various aspects of the Japanese political economy.
We will seek insights into state-society relations and the nature of the
Japanese state from a variety of angles, both theoretical and empirical.
Along the way, we will cover a number of the most influential English-language
texts on Japan. In the end, students will have learned a great deal about
Japan's state and private sector, how they work, and how they interact.
Most of the classes will consider Japan's modern political economy thematically.
The objective will be to gain a greater understanding of the institutions
of which it is composed and of the ways in which they interact. The Japanese
system is under tremendous pressure at this time, and we will examine both
why that is the case, and how it is likely to change under that pressure.
One crucial area this course will not attempt to cover is the international
aspect of Japan's political economy. While international factors have been
important, and at times even crucial, in the development of the political
economy, it is too large and important a subject to address in the space of
just a fraction of a term. Nevertheless, by presenting the domestic picture
in a comprehensive manner, the course should provide students with useful
insights into Japan's international profile as well. (Students interested
in Japan's foreign policy should consider taking IR 579 in addition to this
seminar.)
Requirements
Students are expected to participate actively in classes and keep up with
the weekly reading assignments (approximately 150-200 pp. per week). Each
student will write a 5-7 page paper and a 15-20 page term paper, and make
one classroom presentation. The weights are as follows:
Short Paper - 20%
Research paper - 40%
Class Participation - 20%
E-mail Postings (5) - 10%
Presentation - 10%
E-Mail Postings (five postings, due Sundays at 8 p.m.)
Write a one-paragraph memo (200 words maximum) on the readings for the coming
week and post it to the class via e-mail by 8 p.m. Sunday. We will discuss
some of the memos in class. Do not put off postings until the end of the
semester. The memos may take a variety of forms: 1) Critique one or more
of the readings, 2) Relate the readings to a recent news story or news commentary,
3) Write your own question on the readings and answer it, 4) Propose a topic
for discussion that relates to the readings. You are encouraged to experiment
with this assignment.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: You are expected to provide citations in
papers for all quotations, paraphrases, and ideas taken from any source other
than your own original thoughts. Boston University has very strict standards
for intellectual integrity. Punishment for plagiarism is severe, and can even
mean permanent expulsion from the university. For more on the definition
of plagiarism and the standards to which you will be held, see the Academic
Conduct Code, especially pp. 10-15.
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
Masahiko Aoki, Information, Corporate Governance, and Institutional Diversity:
Competitiveness in Japan, the USA, and the Transitional Economies. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2001.
William Grimes, Unmaking the Japanese Miracle: Macroeconomic Politics,
1985-2000. Ithaca: Cornell, 2001.
Takeo Hoshi and Anil Kashyap, Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan.
ÝCambridge: MIT, 2001.
T.J. Pempel, Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political
Economy. Ithaca: Cornell, 1998.
Optional
D.H. Whittaker, Small Firms in the Japanese Economy. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
All of the above books are on reserve in the library. Photocopies of all
other chapters and articles in the syllabus are also on reserve.
Course Outline
Week 1 Japan: From Occupation to Oil Shock in 180 Minutes Takatoshi Ito, The Japanese Economy (MIT, 1992), Chapt. 3; William
Grimes and Ulrike Schaede, "Japanese Policy Making in a World of Constraints,"
in Schaede and Grimes, Japan's Managed Globalization (M.E. Sharpe,
2002).
Week 2 The Japanese Firm Aoki, Chapt. TBA; Christina Ahmadjian, "Changing Japanese Corporate
Governance" in Schaede and Grimes, Japan's Managed Globalization (M.E.
Sharpe, 2002).
Week 3 Labor-Management Relations Kume, Chapts. 1-2, 6, 8; Andrew Gordon, Wages of Affluence (Harvard,
1998), Chapts 9-10; Dennis McNamara, "Corporatism and Cooperation among Japanese
Labor," Comparative Politics, July 1990, pp. 379-397; Andrew Gordon,
"Scaring the Salaryman Isn't the Japanese Way," New York Times, October
30, 1999, A27; William Grimes, "Japan's Worrisome Workfare," Japan Digest,
April 19, 1999.
Week 4 Keiretsu: Corporate Alliances Michael Gerlach, Alliance Capitalism (UC Press, 1992), Chapt.
1; Paul Sheard, "Interlocking Shareholdings and Corporate Governance in Japan,"
in Aoki and Dore, The Japanese Firm: Sources of Competitive Strength,
pp. 310-349; D. Hugh Whittaker, Small Firms in the Japanese Economy
(Cambridge, 1997), Chapts. 5, 6, 9; Toshihiro Nishiguchi, Strategic Industrial
Sourcing (Oxford, 1994), pp. 113-139.
Week 5 Industrial Policy: Can the Government Beat the Market? Chalmers Johnson, MITI and the Japanese Miracle (Stanford, 1982),
Chapt. 1; Daniel Okimoto, Between MITI and the Market: Japanese Industrial
Policy for High Technology (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989),
Chapt. 1; Motoshige Itoh, et al., "Industrial Policy as a Corrective to Market
Failures," in Komiya, et al., eds., Industrial Policy of Japan (Academic
Press, 1988), pp. 233-255; Richard Beason and David Weinstein, "Growth, Economies
of Scale, and Targeting in Japan (1955-1990)," The Review of Economic and
Statistics, 1996.
Week 6 Industrial Policy: Who's Directing Whom, and How? John O. Haley, Authority without Power: Law and the Japanese Paradox
(NY: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 139-168; J. Mark Ramseyer and Frances
Rosenbluth, Japan's Political Marketplace (Harvard, 1993), Chapt. 7;
Ulrike Schaede, "Industry Rules: From Deregulation to Self-Regulation," in
Schaede and Grimes, Japan's Managed Globalization (M.E. Sharpe, 2002).
Week 7 Policy Markets and Policy Making Grimes, Chapts. 1-3; Kent Calder, Crisis and Compensation (Princeton,
1988), Chapt. 4; Ramseyer and Rosenbluth, Japan's Political Marketplace,
Chapt. 3; Edward Lincoln, Arthritic Japan (Brookings, 2001), Chapt.
4.
Week 8 The Japanese Financial System, 1945-1990 Hoshi and Kashyap, Chapts. 4-6; Cargill, Hutchison, and Ito, Chapt.
5; Grimes, "Introduction" and Chapts. 4-5.
Week 9 Finance and Financial Policy in the 1990s: Recession and Policies
for Recovery Cargill, Hutchison, and Ito, Chapt. 6; Grimes, Chapts. 6-7; Hoshi and
Kashyap, Chapt. 7-8.
Week 10 The Current Debate over Stagnation and Recovery ñ Structure
vs. Stimulus Ben Bernanke, "Japanese Monetary Policy: A Case of Self-Induced Paralysis?"
in Ryoichi Mikitani and Adam Posen, eds., Japan's Financial Crisis and
Its Parallels to U.S. Experience (IIE, 2000), pp. 149-166; Adam Posen
reading TBA; Richard Katz reading TBA.
Week 12 Deregulation Mark Tilton, "Regulatory reform and Market Opening in Japan," in Lonny
Carlile and Mark Tilton, eds., Is Japan Really Changing Its Ways?
(Brookings, 1998), pp.. 163-96; Kusano Atsushi, "Deregulation in Japan and
the Role of Naiatsu," Social Science Japan Journal, vol. 2, no. 1,
1999, pp. 65-84; Steven Vogel, "Can Japan Disengage? Winners and Losers in
Japan's Political Economy, and the Ties that Bind Them," Social Science
Japan Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 1999, pp. 3-21; "Conclusions: Permeable
Insulation and Japan's Managed Globalization," in Schaede and Grimes, Japan's
Managed Globalization (M.E. Sharpe, 2002).
Week 13 Demographic Challenges Yean-Ju Lee and Shuichi Hirata, "Women, Work, and Marriage in Three
East Asian Labor Markets," in Mary Brinton, ed, Women's Working Lives
in East Asia (Stanford, 2001), pp. 96-124; Andrew Mason, ed., Population
Change and Economic Development in East Asia (Stanford, 2001), Chapts.
2-3; Hiromitsu Ishi, Making Fiscal Policy in Japan (Oxford, 2000),
Chapt. 10.