A Survey of the Past Twenty Years' Studies on the Economic Thought of Pre-war and Wartime Period

Abstract

This essay aims to survey Japanese studies published in the past twenty years, which have contributed to the investigation of economic views and their theoretical bases in Japan before and during World War II, especially from the outbreak of the world economic crisis in 1929 up to the end of the Pacific War in 1945. During this period, Japanese were confronted with a serious economic depression, social and political unrest, military operations in Mandshrei and war against China, the reinforcement of militarism and totalitarianism in politics, and the second World War. With the beginning of the war against China, Japan shifted to a wartime economy, in which the government endeavored to increase the productive capacity of the munitions industry and to control the national economy. The pursuit of the government for economic control and the establishment of a wartime economy influenced the thinking and the theoretical viewpoints of intellectuals in the field of economics. Many Japanese economists pursued regulation of the economy that would continue to establish a new economic order after the war. The economic views of contemporary Japanese were very often colored ideologically by militarism that supported the present war. This way of thinking included a criticism of economic liberalism, which was related to political antiliberalism as well as to skepticism of classical economic theories. In this complex atmosphere, however, a number of Japanese economists, who were critical of the ideological moulding of economic thought, devoted themselves to the academic study of social science. The result of this intellectual exploration during this difficult period created a basis for the subsequent development of social science in Japan.
The article surveys historical studies published by Japanese authors from 1982 to 2002, which deal with economic thought and its theoretical background in Japan during this period. First, it introduces the publica tions contributing to the study of the socalled “debate on Japanese capitalism” in pre-war Japan, which marked an important turning point of economics. Subsequently, the past analysis of the views of contemporary economists on the changing capitalism is conducted, in which the transition of an economy of free competition to a monopolistic economy was discussed as the main problem. This theme is related to the political tendency toward preparation for future war. Japanese historians have been much engaged with the marking of a wartime economy and the planning of an economic system prior to a future total war. Their publications are addressed in the following part of the analysis. The number of the past studies on economic views among the leaders of Japanese enterprises before and during World War II is few, and only several works can be listed here. In contrast, there have been many contributions to the study of economic views and the theoretical grounds of Japanese scholars in the field of economics during these years, which are remarked in this essay.