Japan's Economic Dilemma: The Institutional Origins of Prosperity and Stagnation [Hardcover]

Bai Gao explains Japan's economic reversal from miracle growth to the slump of the 1990s.The Japanese economy, after decades of seemingly unsurpassable competitiveness, experienced a major crisis in the 1990s. Observers of Japan are faced with a challenging question: How can one explain Japan's seemingly abrupt reversal from stunning prosperity to dismal stagnation? Bai Gao's illuminating analysis of Japan's economic story goes beyond other analyses to demonstrate how the same economic institutions could produce both stunning economic success and the slump of the 1990s. Those who have been following the lively debate over 'What Became of the Japanese Miracle?' will be rewarded by Gao's richly detailed, historically informed, and multilayered contribution.The Japanese economy, after decades of seemingly unsurpassable competitiveness, experienced a major crisis in the 1990s. Observers of Japan are faced with a challenging question: How can one explain Japan's seemingly abrupt reversal from stunning prosperity to dismal stagnation? Bai Gao's illuminating analysis of Japan's economic story goes beyond other analyses to demonstrate how the same economic institutions could produce both stunning economic success and the slump of the 1990s. Those who have been following the lively debate over 'What Became of the Japanese Miracle?' will be rewarded by Gao's richly detailed, historically informed, and multilayered contribution.After decades of seemingly unsurpassable growth and prosperity, Japan's economy declined in the 1990s. The reversal stunned observers: How could the economy have reversed itself so abruptly? Bai Gao's illuminating analysis of Japan's economic story demonstrates how the same economic institutions could produce both remarkable successes and a prolonged slump. In Japan's Economic Dilemma, Gao describes tensions within the Japanese economic system that created a bubble in the 1980s, yet became unsustainable and led to a stagnant domestic economy lãB