Conspiracy in Industry or Conspiracy in Academe? A Review of Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer, The Fable of the Keiretsu: Urban Legends of the Japanese Economy

Author: Brennan, Timothy

Source: International Journal of the Economics of Business, Volume 15, Number 2, July 2008 , pp. 265-279(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

During the 1980s, a widespread belief that the Japanese economy was outperforming that of the US led to a search for causes. Perhaps top on the list was a view that the Japanese had rejected the US model of private market competition, substituting for it the use of very large horizontal and vertical cooperatives, known as keiretsu. These keiretsu were thought to follow the instruction of main banks and the Japanese government rather than their own entrepreneurial insight. Miwa and Ramseyer's book (2006) sets out a detailed case against all of these claims. While the argument about the role of the keiretsu is significant, perhaps more important is the authors' explanation of why the 'fable' was thought real by academics as well as the policy and business community.

Keywords: Keiretsu; Japan; Industrial Organization; Methodology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13571510802134528

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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