Development of the Heavy Chemical Industry in Post-War Japan (PROBLEMS ON THE ECONOMIC HISTORY AFTER THE WORLD WAR 1)

Abstract

With the introduction of electricity into the industrial production, the electric power became a principal energy of this country. It made possible automatic and concentrated operation of machine and also accelelated the monopoly in the production and capital accumulation of the industry. This article aims to examine the prosess of development of the heavy chemical industry in Japan from the viewpoint of the 'electrification as an industrial energy'. Criterion of the examination are as follows: (1) Electrification ratio which is to be used in order to indicate the level of the industrial technique used. (2) Electric power generated which is to be used to show the the expansion of field of industry and inclease of the quantity of production. (3) Furthermore, the process of the development of power industry will be examined by such criterion as generation system applied, structure of production and mechanism of capital accumulation. Examinning such fields as the metal, machinery and appratus, and pure chemical industries by criterion mentioned above, it became clear that basic and necessary technique for the establishment of heavy chemical industry had been well founded during 1910-1920. Market share of the heavy chemical industry of this country was less than thirty percent in all the industrial production in the post-war period. The popularlization of the electric power as an industrial energy, however, indicated that Japan's industrial level had been reached at high level which would be well compared with that of western countries. We can safely say that the electric power in post-war Japan was taking a leadership in raising up the technique of whole industry into higher level.