The realities of Japanese-U.S. trade and investment relations are clouded by mistrust, misinformation, and myth. In what way is the Japanese economic system different, and is it to be emulated or challenged? The contributors, from both the United States and Japan, explore Japanese trade patterns, market structure and trade, financial markets, and industrial and trade policy. Offering analysis of the issues, Trade with Japan is a valuable resource for economists, policymakers, and the business community.

LIBERAL TRADE AND JAPAN THE INCOMPATIBILITY ISSUE IN ELECTRONICS What would be the cause of those many trade conflicts between Japan and the West? Do just lack of competitiveness and protectionism or inaccessibility of the Japanese market trigger repetitive trade conflicts or some mix? It may also be that economic systems of Japan and the Western industrial nations are incompatible. Both, the question of competitiveness and of frictions between both systems are addressed in this book. Incongruity of the economy of Japan and Western liberal system would have serious consequences for the continuity of the world trade system. H a contradiction between the two systems is supposed to exist, such a hypothesis would require analysis of the basics of the existing trade system and of the Japanese economy and what its effects on world trade are. H it would be possible to explain salient features of Japanese competitiveness from these frictions perhaps some recommendations could be made for improvement of business and governmental trade policies and of the international trade system. The present world trade system is partly framed in rules dating from the end of the 1940s and reflecting economic experience as well as prevailing - both theoretical and ideological - economic thought in the period prior to their design. Part A investigates the liberal basis of the international economic system and general position of Japan in that system.

This book explores the process of policy-making in Japan providing a valuable insight for academics and policy-makers into Japan's massive trade surpluses and the resultant mounting international pressure to resolve the situation.

"A joint publication of the Social Science Research Council and New York University Press."

During the first three decades following the Second World War, an increasingly open international trading system led to unprecedented economic growth throughout the world. But in recent years, that openness has been threatened by increased protectionism, regional trading arrangements—Europe 1992 and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement—and setbacks in negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In Trade and Protectionism, American and East Asian scholars consider the dangers of this trend for the world economy and especially for East Asian countries. The authors look at the current global trading system and at the potential threats to East Asian economies from possible regional arrangements, such as separate trading blocks in the Western Hemisphere and Europe. They cover trade between the United States and Japan, Korea and Japan, and Japanese-East Asian trade policies; trade in agriculture and semiconductors and the frictions that have jeopardized this trade; and direct foreign investment. The contributors round out the work with discussions of the political economy of protection in Korea and Taiwan and political economy considerations as they affect trade policy in general. This is the second volume of the National Bureau of Economic Research-East Asia Seminar on Economics. The first volume, The Political Economy of Tax Reform, also edited by Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger, addresses tax reform in the global economy.

Microeconomics is the most engaging introductory economics resource available to students today. Using real businesses examples to show how managers use economics to make real decisions every day, the subject is made relevant and meaningful. Each chapter of the text opens with a case study featuring a real business or real business situation, refers to the study throughout the chapter, and concludes with An Inside Look—a news article format which illustrates how a key principle covered in the chapter relates to real business situations or was used by a real company to make a real business decision. Solved problems in every chapter motivate learners to confidently connect with the theory to solve economic problems and analyse current economic events.

This new edition has been rewritten to provide an up-to-date, clear and comprehensive account of the most important developments currently taking place in the world economy. The text introduces the major economic theories and models with an emphasis on changes within the world trading system and how governments respond. New features include: * an expansion of chapter three to include formal models of intra-industry trade under imperfect competition * two separate chapters on Japan and newly industrialising countries, updating and incorporating new material * new sections on Strategic Trade Policy and on the Political Economy of Protectionism * a new chapter on the institutional aspects of world trade in discussing the deliberations of the World Trade Organisation