Japanese Economists on Imperialism and Total War:

Tanzan Ishibashi and His Peers

抄録

Abstract: In order to explore the relationship between war and economics in the era of imperialism and total war, this paper mainly covers Tanzan Ishibashi, a Japanese economic journalist who lat-er became a politician and served as Prime Minister. 　　Ishibashiʼs basic thought consisted of the ʻprinciple of independenceʼ and the ʻprinciple of network.ʼ The latter emphasized production by the division of labor of free agents; con-sumption by transactions between economic agents enabling production; and international peace as a premise of the international division of labor and trade. Therefore, Ishibashi con-sistently advocated for the ʻlittle Japanism,ʼ which opposed imperialism and bloc economies, aiming for peaceful economic development through international trade. 　　However, while Ishibashiʼs arguments regarding lifting the gold embargo and an expan-sionary fiscal policy led to the restoration of the economy at the national level, they also ex-acerbated poor relations with China and the United Kingdom and became a factor behind the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. Moreover, military expenditure-based fiscal expan-sion necessitated a transition to the controlled economy that Ishibashi criticized. 　　Ishibashiʼs arguments thus betrayed his ideals. On the other hand, according his princi-ples, he promoted the institutionalization of economics in wartime by building a personal network, secured freedom of thought and activities through this means, and also used his per-sonal network to create a post-war plan for the world economy based on free trade. 　　Understanding the gap between Ishibashiʼs economic thought and reality, and under-standing his struggles in trying to cross that gap, are important when thinking about a modern society in which protectionism and chauvinism are on the rise as globalization progresses. JEL classification numbers: B 27, B 31, N 45.