Industrial Policy in Japan and the Policy Choices for Central and East European Countries : A Commentary on Some Controversial Issues Duisburger Papiere zur Ostasienwirtschaft ; 37 (1997)

by Pascha, Werner

Nobuko Inagawa has written an excellent paper on the relevance of Japanese experiences for a successful integration of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) into the world economy. Talking about the case of Japan is particularly interesting - and potentially controversial - compared with the experiences of other leading economies or successful lateindustrializers. The reason is that Japan - or rather: a significant part of its political, bureaucratic and academic establishment - currently is the only major challenger to the socalled Washington consensus on how to go about structural change in developing and postsocialist transition economies. Here, I want to concentrate on three issues, which could be seen somewhat controversially when utilising Japan´s experiences and drawing policy lessons for CEECs