Odd Markets in Japanese History: Law and Economic Growth
Author(s): J. Mark Ramseyer (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 21 Aug. 2008
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 212 pages
ISBN-10: 0521048257
ISBN-13: 9780521048255
Book Description
Employing a rational-choice approach, Professor Ramseyer studies the impact of Japanese law on economic growth in Japan. Toward that end, the author investigates the way law governed various markets and the way that people negotiated contracts within those markets. For much of the period at stake, the Japanese government was an oligarchy rather than a democracy; the judges operated a civil rather than common law regime; the economy grew modestly but erratically; and social customs changed rapidly and radically. As a result, this study applies an economic logic, but to markets in a vastly different world, in a different historical period, and with a different political regime and legal system. Findings reveal that the legal system generally promoted mutually advantageous deals, and that people generally negotiated in ways that shrewdly promoted their private best interests. Whether in the markets for indentured servants, prostitutes, or marriage partners, Odd Markets in Japanese History reports little evidence of either age- or gender- related exploitation.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This is a provocative and original book, one well worth reading and thinking about.” Pacific Affairs
“J. Mark Ramseyer’s Odd Markets in Japanese History is a stimulating, infuriating, and truculent series of essays…” David L. Howell, Monumenta Nipponica
“This is a provocative and original book, one well worth reading and thinking about.” Stephan Salzberg, Pacific Affairs
“Viola’s book opens a fascinating window on the peasant world….Viola forces us to ask new and different questions about collectivization. Her book will be a starting point for all serious thought on the subject.” Book Reviews
Book Description
This book uses a rational-choice approach to study the impact of Japanese law on economic growth in Japan.
From the Back Cover
Using a straightforward rational-choice approach, Professor Ramseyer explores the impact that law had on various markets in Japanese history and the effect that those markets had on economic growth. In doing so, he applies an economic logic to markets in a different world in a different historical period with a different political regime and a different legal system. He looks hardest at those markets that have most often struck traditional observers as “exploitative” (e.g., the markets for indentured servants and for sexual services). Within those markets, he focuses on the way participants handled informational asymmetries in the contracting process. Ramseyer finds that Japanese courts generally defined important property rights clearly, and that Japanese markets generally protected an individual’s control over his or her own labor. As a result, that the Japanese economy grew at relatively efficient levels follows directly from standard economic theory. He also concludes that the legal system usually promoted mutually advantageous deals, and that market participants (whether poor or rich, female or male) generally mitigated informational asymmetries shrewdly by contract. He finds no systematic evidence of either sex- or age-based exploitation.
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