Introduction

Abstract

At the end of the Second World War the Japanese economy lay in total ruin. Remarkably, however, recovery was rapid and growth rates exceeded even the ambitious official targets. In the early 1960s, a government plan to double national income over a ten-year period forecast annual GDP growth of around 7 per cent. This was dismissed as unrealistic by most observers but economic growth in the decade averaged 10 per cent a year. Even more impressive was the unlikely combination of high growth and equitable income distribution. In general, periods of high economic growth tend to widen income differentials but the Japanese experience was markedly different. Not without some justification, analysts have used the term ‘miracle economy’ to highlight Japan’s unparalleled economic achievements during the 1960s.