SOCI 235 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Lester Thurow, Piece Work, Dynamic Efficiency
26 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Abegglen, the japanese factory, and the assumptions of economic policy: japan"s early postwar economic performance was spectacular. Among 16 rich oecd countries (us, switzerland, canada, australia, uk, sweden, denmark, netherlands, norway, belgium, France, finland, germany, austria, italy, japan) ranked by gdp per capita it was 16th in 1950, 13th in 1973, 4th in 1990. (it had fallen to 10th by 2001. ) What explains this success: there was a general process of catch-up, as countries with poorer technologies and less skilled labour forces adopted the technologies of richer countries at the same time raising their educational standards. We are now the ones who must copy and adapt the policies and innovations that have been successful elsewhere. (lester thurow, the zero-sum society, 1980): one line of argument is cultural. Abegglen"s study, the japanese factory was a version of this sort of argument that was picked up and modified by others: abegglen visited japanese factories after the japanese defeat in wwii.
