Monopoly, Corporate Profits and the Dual Structure

Abstract

The first half of the postwar period almost entirely corresponds to Japan’s ‘high growth era’, 1951–73 (see T. Nakamura, 1993, p. 164). During this time, the economy grew at a stable annual average real rate of 10 percent, much faster than in the most recent decades, whose growth has itself been much higher than that of other OECD countries. Although interest in Japan’s economy has intensified in recent years, the early postwar years remain worthy of study, partly because current economic strength is built upon earlier growth.¹ Furthermore, nearly all the keywords used to analyse the economy in recent years were employed in earlier postwar decades as well, implying that the conventional understanding of the economy in earlier years was and remains effective today. I will show, however, that the conventional wisdom was totally wrong, and that these same mistaken concepts applied to today’s economy result in faulty understanding.