Japanese Economics and Economists since 1945

Aiko Ikeo, Aiko Ikeo

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781134620166
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Negocios y empresa
• Categoria: Negocios en general

In this book, leading Japanese scholars present an objective study of Japanese economics since 1945, based on statistical data and analysis.
The first half of the book assesses the impact and influence of Japanese economics within the international academy, demonstrating the increasingly important contribution of Japanese approaches to theoretical and mathematical economics. Part Two investigates the impact of Japanese economics on policy-making, dissecting the formulation of the famous 'industrial structure policy', and comparing Japanese economics with American and Korean models.
Presenting a wealth of original empirical data, and a new perspective on international economic theory, this book will be of interest to historians, theoreticians and policy-makers alike.

Part I
Japanese economists and scientific research

1 Scientific research and internationalization

Aiko Ikeo

Introduction

This chapter gives an overview of Japanese economists’ societal activities in a wide range of specialized fields by examining the organization and contributions of the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (UNEAJ) from a historical perspective. UNEAJ assists Japanese economists to communicate with economists abroad and keeps close contact with the International Economic Association (IEA). It contributes to the enhancement of the academic distinction of Japanese economists. The communication of UNEAJ and member societies with their counterparts abroad also reflects the enduring efforts of internationally oriented economists worldwide.

1.1 UNEAJ, Third Division of the Science Council of Japan (JSC) and the IEA

Japanese economists could not continue societal activities during the closing years of the Asian and Pacific War (1937–45) and the chaotic period right after Japan lost the war. After this period, Japanese scholars gradually built up the domestic system of scientific research accommodated to the new post-war environment, including the Science Council of Japan (JSC) and the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (UNEAJ). On the other hand, they also came into contact with a new international organization that was coming to shape international communications in economics, namely the International Economic Association (IEA). UNEAJ especially aimed at systematic communication not only among themselves but also between non-Japanese and Japanese economists. Therefore, UNEAJ tried to keep these economists of the member associations as a whole involved in international communication through the formation of organizations, while each individual economist could join international or foreign academic societies. When we look at the history of Japanese economics since 1945, what was of importance were UNEAJ and the Third Division of the JSC, and IEA.

The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (UNEAJ) is the nation-wide federation of associations of scholars and experts on economics, commerce, and business administration. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization. The main aims and objectives of UNEAJ are to support the scholarly activities of its member associations and to promote academic exchanges not only among members themselves but also between Japan and academic societies overseas. The secondary aim is to help communications between the Third Division (economics, commerce and business administration) of the Science Council of Japan and the voluntary societies in the same fields.

The Science Council of Japan (JSC) mainly aims to encourage and develop scientific research, and to promote science in government administration, industry and national life. The Third Division of JSC has representatives from the fields of economics, commerce and business administration. The Science Council is a governmental organization. In order to secure its independence of government policies, it is not attached to the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture but to the Prime Minister’s Office. UNEAJ was established by several members of the Third Division (economics and commerce at the time) of JSC on 22 January 1950, exactly a year after the foundation of JSC on 22 January 1949. Therefore, the relationship between the Third Division of JSC and UNEAJ is often expressed as two sides of a coin.

The International Economic Association (IEA) is an international federation of national academic associations or committees representing the economists of each country. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization with purely scientific aims. It has been headquartered in Paris since it was founded in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Science Department of UNESCO and a group of French economists. ‘The general purpose of the IEA is to initiate or coordinate measures of international collaboration designed to assist the advancement of economic knowledge’ (Article 2 of the Statutes). Representing Japan, the Third Division of JSC is now a formal member association of IEA.

An economist has only an indirect relationship with UNEAJ or IEA through individual membership of societies or associations, because UNEAJ is a federation of societies or associations within Japan, and IEA is a federation of societies or associations representing each country. Therefore, economists are not very conscious of their relation to UNEAJ or IEA. Moreover, there is a big difference because JSC is a governmental organization whereas neither UNEAJ nor IEA is. Nonetheless their relations are hard to grasp because they have been evolving in order to fulfill their aims and objectives.

Section 1.2 discusses the aims and organization of UNEAJ based on its constitution. Section 1.3 traces the expansion of UNEAJ. Section 1.4 gives an overview of its activities and pays attention to the international collaboration with IEA from a perspective of international communication. Section 1.5 summarizes several observations and considerations.

1.2 Purpose and organization of UNEAJ

We will discuss the purposes and organizational characteristics of UNEAJ by taking a look at its current constitution and changes in past constitutions. The first constitution was promulgated on 22 January 1950. The constitution was revised in 1952, 1954, 1967, 1975, 1981, and 1983–84.

As we have seen in Section 1.1, the main aims and objectives of UNEAJ are to support the scholarly activities of its member associations and to promote academic exchanges not only among members themselves but also between Japan and academic societies overseas, and to contribute to the development of economics, commerce and business administration (Article 2). In 1950 economics and commerce were the only fields designated in the constitution but business administration was added when the constitution was revised in 1967.

Article 4 prescribes UNEAJ activities for the above purposes as follows:

1. It promotes mutual communication and exchanges not only among member associations but also between its member associations and their counterparts overseas.
2. It promotes communication between the Third Division of the Science Council of Japan (JSC) and the member associations (of the Third Division of JSC and UNEAJ) in the fields of economics, commerce and business administration.
3. It examines the systems supporting scientific research overseas and in Japan.
4. It organizes meetings for researchers and public lectures.
5. It publishes periodicals and books.
6. It will do other things that are necessary to fulfill its aims and objectives.

There have been no changes since 1950, except for the ordering of items 1 and 2. In other words, communication between the Third Division of JSC and member societies was given the first priority for UNEAJ.

Articles 5 to 11 provide the organizational structure of UNEAJ. UNEAJ has directors, councilors, the president and auditors (Article 5). The board of councilors consists of two persons selected from each member association for a three-year term (Article 6) and it makes final decisions (Article 7). A member association is allowed to re-elect the same person or change councilors (Article 6). The board of councilors is to meet twice a year (Article 7). The board of directors, which has 10 directors elected in the board of councilors, manages UNEAJ’s activities (Article 8). Moreover, the board of directors may have a few more directors from the members of the Third Division of JSC if it is necessary for smooth administration with the approval of the board of councilors. These additional directors are allowed to attend the meetings of the board of councilors (Article 8). The president is elected in the board of directors and represents UNEAJ for a three-year term (Article 9). Two auditors are elected to the board of councilors and serve for three years (Article 10).

The constitution was revised in 1983. Prior to this change, the board of councilors consisted of two persons selected from each member association and the members of the Third Division of JSC. The ten councilors consisted of the chairperson, vice-chairperson and two secretaries of the Third Division of SCJ, and four persons elected from the board of councilors (Old Article 8). Thus the 1old constitution supposed that there were personnel overlapping between the UNEAJ board of directors and the members of the Third Division of JSC. The Old Article 8 also stated that the board of directors could add a few persons to the above ten directors in order to guarantee the continuity of UNEAJ activities if necessary.

The conditions for membership became an article (Article 3) in the 1967 revisions. As mentioned, UNEAJ is the nation-wide federation of associations of scholars and experts on economics, commerce, and business administration. An association is allowed to join UNEAJ if it satisfies the following conditions:

• it is a nation-wide association
• its main members are researchers
• it holds academic conferences regularly
• its executive members are reshuffled regularly and
• it issues periodicals.

In other words, an association that engages in these kinds of activities is regarded as an academic association or society in Japan. Moreover, the following documents are needed for an association to apply for membership:

1. application form
2. a constitution including the procedure of selecting directors
3. a list of directors
4. a list of members
5. a statement of account for the past five years
6. a prospectus
7. a record of activities including programs of meetings for research
8. a copy of the periodicals for the past five years.

Therefore, a newly established society is qualified to apply for membership only after at least five years of activities since its foundation.

An application is followed by a formal screening at the secretariat, the deliberation of the board of directors, the deliberation of the board of councilors, the deliberation of the board of directors with an interview of the representatives from the applicant association. If there is no objection from the board of directors, the board of councilors is supposed to approve the application at the next meeting. As the board of councilors meets twice a year, it takes at least six months for an applicant association to obtain membership.

Articles 12 to 14 describe the budgeting and accounting procedures. Member associations must contribute their quota of money according to the number of their members (Article 12). UNEAJ is allowed to receive donations for the fulfillment of its purposes (Article 13). Article 14 states the accounting period. Iwao (1988:4) said, ‘UNEAJ’s budget is always under strict supervision of the Ministry of Finance. The secretariat always keeps accounts and materials in order, and is audited. In the first two years after its foundation (1950), UNEAJ was helped by the Third Division of JSC with its expenses of holding meetings, and received a Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education. In 1951, it was decided that UNEAJ should collect dues from member associations and organized a fund drive in fiscal year (FY) 1952 (Bulletin, J, 1951:(2) 100). In April 1952, not only did UNEAJ stand on its own two feet, but it also gave financial aid to the Third Division of JSC (Bulletin, J, 1952:(3/4) 179).

The secretary general is chosen from the directors by the President (Article 15). Article 1 states that the secretariat should be placed in Tokyo. The constitution of 1950 stated that the secretariat of UNEAJ should be placed in the secretariat of JSC, and in reality it was done by clerks of the JSc secretariat on the side (Bulletin, J, 1952:(3/4) 179). In April 1952, the secretariat of UNEAJ was moved from JSC to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), causing the UNEAJ constitution to be revised a little further (Bulletin, J, 1954:(5) 258–9). Both JSC and JSPS were in Ueno Park at the time. From 1952 on, clerks in the general affairs section of JSPS assisted in the editorial work for the Japanese version of the periodical Bulletin for UNEAJ. In 1963, when Takeei Shintani (JSPS), who had assisted UNEAJ for many years died, the secretariat was moved from JSPS to a university.

Like many non-profit organizations, UNEAJ has both financial and managerial problems. In his ‘UNEAJ director for a quarter century’ (J, 1988) Iwao explained these problems as follows: ‘The quotas from member associations could not cover the expenses for international exchanges, or the whole secretarial expenses’. Iwao (1993:3) also said:

We hope to handle all the secretarial jobs (including the whole domestic affairs) within the quota revenue. Yet in order to do this, we need either to raise the quota of money or to get more member associations. Both are not easy at all. Even if this was solved, we have to collect donations for international exchanges like attending or organizing international conferences. We need donations. Therefore, we always need a president and advisers who are good at raising money.

There are only a few universities that are allowed to house the secretariat for UNEAJ. ‘The secretariat can be placed neither in universities in Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo), nor in national universities (for the sake of donation). I really hope that the secretariat should be placed among so-called giant private universities in rotation.’ (Iwao 1988:3). Iwao, a professor of Chuo University, admitted that his university could not assist in the secretarial jobs, although he was a director for 25 years (Iwao 1988:3).

The secretariat of UNEAJ moved out of JSPS in 1963, and moved into the Research Institute of Labor Science at Hosei University, for which Takeshi Fujimoto, the secretary general, worked. It settled there until 1969. Fujimoto served as a secretary for the Third Division of JSC during 1963–65 and was the Vice-Chairperson during 1966–68. In April 1969 the secretariat of UNEAJ formally moved into the graduate school of Meiji University, and Heihachiro Aso became the secretary general. Yet the temporary secretariat was placed at the residence of Tetsuo Okubo in Sumida-ku until June 1970, when the secretariat was moved to the graduate school of Meiji University. Beginning in April 1972, the secretariat was located in Keio University for sixteen and a half years. The secretary general was assumed first by Noboru Yamamoto, then by Takashi Shiraishi from April 1975, and finally by NorioTamaki from June 1986. In October 1988, the secretariat moved to Waseda University. The secretary general was assumed first by Koichi Otani, and has been held by Kenichi Enatsu since November 1991.

Seiichiro Takahashi, who was the Chairperson of the Third Division of JSC, became the first President of UNEAJ, and Torajiro Takagaki became the second. Kaname Hayashi was both the President of UNEAJ and the Chairperson for the Third Division of JSC during 1960–69. So were Kohachiro Takahashi during 1969–75, Jokichi Uchida during 1975–81, and Yoshio Ando during 1981–83. Susumu Takamiya became the acting President during 1983–84 and became both the President of UNEAJ and the Chairperson of JSC during 1984–85. Takashi Shiraishi was the President of UNEAJ during 1985–89 and Masao Uno has been the President since 1989.

1.3 Member associations of UNEAJ

The Union of the National Economic Associations in Japan (Tables 1.1 and 1.2) was organized by 15 associations on 22 January 1950. Its initial name in English was Japan Union of Associations of Economic Sciences. Its initial member associations’ most recent English names and their initial foundation year (in parentheses), in Japanese alphabetical order, are as follows (Bulletin, J, (1951:1))

Japan Society of Monetary Economics (1943)

Society for the History of Economic Thought (1949–50)

Japan Society of Public Utility Economics (1949)

Socio-Economic History Society (1930)

Division of Economics in the Humanities Committee (1946)

Political Economy and Economic History Society (1942)

Japan Accounting Association (1937)

Japan Society of Business Administration (1926)

Japan Economic Policy Association (1940)

Japan Society of Transportation Economics (1941)

Japanese Institute of Public Finance (1940)

Japan Statistical Society (1931),

Economic Division in Democratic Scientists’ Association (1946),

Agricultural Division in Democratic Scientists’ Association (1946)

Association of Theoretical Economics (1934).

As seen from the foundation years, there were several associations which had been established during the Asian-Pacific War (1937–45). Some broke up and others changed their names.

First, the predecessor of the Japan Society of Transportation Economics is the East Asian Society of Transportatio...