Governing the Japanese Economy: Aspects of Political Economy

Sheridan criticizes the argument that, as Japan reaches economic maturity, its ability to make deliberate national choices backed by government action will give way to market forces. Sheridan offers a very different interpretation based on the existence of a sequence of policy cycles, discernible in the historical development of Japan's economy. Only by reconstructing this sequence of policy cycles over the last two centuries can we make sense of the "Japanese secret" and understand the significance of recent policy shifts.