{"product_id":"circles-of-compensation-9780804798686","title":"Circles of Compensation","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Kent Calder's \u003ci\u003eCrisis and Compensation\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the classic works on Japanese politics—and with \u003ci\u003eCircles of Compensation\u003c\/i\u003e, he's written another seminal book on Japanese political economy. In reading this new book, one learns everything one needs to know about Japan's economic problems. An absolute tour de force.\" -- Margarita Estévez-Abe * Syracuse University *\u003cbr\u003e\"Calder is a scholar and intellectual leader with practical and policy experience. His work is leaving a mark on U.S.–Japan relations.\" -- John V. Roos * Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eCircles of Compensation\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautifully written breakthrough analysis of how to think about one of the world's most important nations. Its conclusions have powerful implications for anyone interested in global economics and politics. Simply too important to pass up.\" -- Jeffrey Garten * Yale University *\u003cbr\u003e\"[T]he author develops the first new paradigm for Japan's fluctuating growth patterns and its prospects for recovery. The reading is essential to students and scholars of Japanese political economy, civil society, and East Asian studies in general.\" -- X. Li * \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Confronting the Paradox chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter begins by noting the dual challenge of newly developing nations: achieving economic development as late developers, and assuring order in changing societies. The chapter contends that although leaders of developing nations, such as Sun Yat-sen and Chandra Bose, once manifested substantial interest in the Japanese model, there has been little systematic consideration of that approach.\u003c\/p\u003e 1Paradox and Japanese Public Policy chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter elaborates on the puzzles in Japanese economic performance and public policy that suggest the need for new analytical paradigms. In the sphere of economic performance, it is puzzling that Japanese growth was distinctively rapid for nearly a century from the late Meiji period until around 1990, slowed down sharply, and then failed to recover, despite massive pump priming and technological strength. Policy puzzles include the slow overall profile of Japan's globalization response, cross-sectoral variance in response profiles, and inconsistencies in governmental responses to specific connected and unconnected firms.\u003c\/p\u003e 2The Circles-of-Compensation Concept chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter defines \"circles of compensation\" as \"networks of regular participants . . . in which members have reciprocal benefits and obligations.\" Such circles have five specific traits: (1) a clearly defined set of members, (2) expansibility, (3) an iterative character, (4) a propensity to allocate resources internally, and (5) a propensity to externalize costs to nonmembers. After specification of the model, the chapter proceeds to illustrate with examples from both Japanese and international experience, including cartels, industry associations, and agricultural cooperatives. The chapter concludes with comments on the geographical distribution of circles, their heuristic value, and methodological comments on case selection, to provide testable hypotheses on the nature of circles of compensation.\u003c\/p\u003e 3The Political Economy of Connectedness chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter explains the progression of the empirical section of the book, which provides concrete examples of circles of compensation in action, and tests the central hypothesis, which is: Circles of compensation systematically internalize reward and externalize risk, introducing a parochial bias into both policy and corporate behavior that enhances in-group solidarity, and reduces incentives to pursue outside initiatives, thus inhibiting both individual and corporate responsiveness to globalization.\u003c\/p\u003e 4Finance chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter describes the key institutions of Japanese domestic and international finance, as well as their transformation over the past three decades. It chronicles, in particular, the decline of the long-term credit banks and the keiretsu, together with the implications of these developments for cooperative capitalism across the Japanese political economy. It shows how these developments have impeded innovation and structural adjustment and contributed to stagnant growth. The revision of Japan's Foreign Exchange and Investment Law in late 1980 also influenced domestic incentive structures in critical ways that are described and analyzed.\u003c\/p\u003e 5Land and Housing chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter shows the central role that the political economy of land has historically played in crowded, high-growth Japan, and how land policy has encouraged expansionary banking behavior and hence high-speed economic growth. It also shows why the same land policies, in interaction with cooperative capitalism in the finance area, have contributed to the rigidity and stagnation of the Japanese political economy.\u003c\/p\u003e 6Food Supply chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter describes agricultural policies and institutions, stressing the central role of public–private cooperation, and also explains the structural relationships among agricultural policy, political stability, and leveraged high-speed economic growth. It notes that the agriculture policy is slowly liberalizing, but related circles of compensation nevertheless remain salient, especially at the local level, due to persistent human networks at the grassroots level.\u003c\/p\u003e 7Energy chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter shows how cooperative capitalism operates in the energy sector to ensure stable price levels and capital investment. The analysis focuses especially on nuclear power and how circles of compensation have promoted nuclear power and worked to assure local acceptance, both before and after the Fukushima nuclear accident of March 2011.\u003c\/p\u003e 8Transportation chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter shows how circles of compensation can impede Japan's globalization by privileging parochial interests (heavily subsidized local airports) at the expense of potentially competitive cosmopolitan interests (Japan's international airlines and largest airports). The result is a situation where neighboring Korea has become the air and sea shipping hub for East Asia, at Japan's expense, due to perverse, inward-looking Japanese transportation policies.\u003c\/p\u003e 9Communications chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter illustrates the mixed implications of circles of compensation in a rapidly globalizing world, in two parallel dimensions—the \"hard\" side of communications (telecommunications equipment) and the \"soft\" side (education and mass media). In the telecommunications sector, the circles have produced an industry focusing on increasingly specialized and arcane applications, largely impractical outside of Japan. In education, there has been a comparable parochial drift. In both areas, Japan is gradually adjusting to long-term global trends, but only slowly, due to the cushioning effect of circles of compensation.\u003c\/p\u003e 10Japan's Domestic Circles and the Broader World chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter addresses the impact of domestic circles of compensation on the incentive structure of Japanese firms and policy makers as they confront globalization. It suggests that the circles encourage them to prioritize stability of domestic corporate relationships at the expense of competitive response to international challenge, to the extent that those contrasting pressures come into conflict. The argument is substantiated by evidence from cases of Japanese firms, such as Rakuten and SoftBank, that are not extensively involved with circles of compensation within Japan, yet are proactive and successful abroad.\u003c\/p\u003e 11Models for the Future chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter documents Japan's difficulties in responding to globalization, principally through comparison with three late-developing political economies with broad similarities to Japan in resource endowment and political structure, which have responded much more smoothly to globalization than has Japan. The chapter then explores where these three countries (Germany, South Korea, and Singapore) provide useful reference points for Japanese policy making.\u003c\/p\u003e Conclusion: Unraveling the Paradox chapter abstract\u003cp\u003eThis chapter returns to the hypothesis that circles of compensation introduce a parochial, stabilizing bias into working-level incentive structures, inhibiting rapid response to globalization. Sector-specific case studies and national-level data generally confirm this hypothesis. Counterfactual foreign and Japanese cases where circles of compensation do not prevail point to a parallel conclusion. The policy implication is that Japan's \"third arrow\" structural reforms will be difficult to achieve. Given the complexity and possibly perverse macropolitical implications of dismantling embedded circles of compensation, this research suggests broadening the circles through political leadership within Japan and transnational collaboration to enhance innovative capacity. Privatization and \"third arrow\" Abenomics structural reforms will likely have limited utility, while broadening efforts such as \"womanomics\" and use of pension-fund investment criteria may be more effective. Another priority should be transnational private-sector, academic, and governmental linkages, with centers of innovation abroad, such as Silicon Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405629792599,"sku":"9780804798686","price":81.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780804798686.jpg?v=1730493058","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/circles-of-compensation-9780804798686","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}