The Origins of Economic Thought in Modern Japan

By examining economic thought in the period of the Japanese Enlightenment, this book makes clear the reasons behind the success of Japanese economic development.
This text sets out to describe the emergence of economics in the period of Japanese Enlightenment, or the first two decades of the Meiji era. At this time, there was general agreement for the need to modernize the country by abolishing all remaining feudalism, and opening up to Western economic thought. The author examines the main characteristics of economic thought at this time, in particular, the predominance of nationalism among both proponents of protectionism and free-trade.