TY  - JOUR
AU  - Morck,Randall
AU  - Nakamura,Masao
TI  - Business Groups and the Big Push: Meiji Japan's Mass Privatization and Subsequent Growth 
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13171
PY  - 2007
Y2  - June 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13171
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13171.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Randall Morck
Faculty of Business
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB  T6G 2R6
CANADA
Tel: 780/492-5683
Fax: 780/492-3325
E-Mail: randall.morck@ualberta.ca

Masao Nakamura
Faculty of Commerce and Business Admin.
University of British Columbia
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, B.C.CANADA V6T 1Z2
Tel: 604-822-8434
Fax: 604-822-8477
E-Mail: masao.nakamura@sauder.ubc.ca
AB  - Rosenstein-Rodan (1943) and others posit that rapid development requires a 'big push' -- the coordinated rapid growth of diverse complementary industries, and suggests a role for government in providing such coordination. We argue that Japan's zaibatsu, or pyramidal business groups, provided this coordination after the Meiji government failed at the task. We propose that pyramidal business groups are private sector mechanisms for coordinating and financing 'big push' growth, and that unique historical circumstances aided their success in prewar Japan. Specifically, Japan uniquely marginalized its feudal elite; withdrew its hand with a propitious mass privatization that rallied the private sector; marginalized an otherwise entrenched first generation of wealthy industrialists; and remained open to foreign trade and capital.
ER  -