Vol.
65, No. 5
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Tomoari MATSUNAGA
A revaluation of the economic policy of the British Liberal Party: the
formation and the collapse of the 'Producer's Alliance'
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Economic historians
have considered that the economic policies of the Liberal government
in the early twentieth century were under the influence of the City
of London. By contrast, this paper makes it clear that the Liberals
aimed to build a 'Producer's Alliance', an alliance between the industrial
capitalists and the industrial labourers, which would actively compete
with the rentiers, who were associated with City finance. Continuity
of purpose in this respect can be found to link Liberal policy before
World War I with that of the 1920s.
As a result, this study
shows that the pre-war Liberal Party represented the interest of export
industries. However, when these industries were shattered by World War
I, it was necessary for the Liberals to work out a new strategy. Thus,
in the 1920s they adopted a plan proposed by Keynes, and tried to revive
industry through concentrating on the domestic market. Both before and
after World War I, the Liberal Party consistently supported the interests
of 'Producers'.
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Makoto KISHIDA
The South Manchurian Railway foreign loan negotiations and Japan's external
financial policy, 1927-1928
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The purpose of this article is to reconsider the foreign loan negotiations
for the South Manchurian Railway (SMR) and their failure in the context
of Japan's external financial policy, and to examine the negotiation
process both in America and Britain.
From the mid-1920s, the
SMR loan was regarded as an important source of specie in the event
of a return to the gold standard. But the financial panic of 1927 and
the subsequent drain on gold made it necessary to float the loan immediately.
Negotiations were opened with T.W. Lamont of J.P. Morgan & Co. who regarded
the loan as financial support for the stabilization of the Japanese
economy and made every effort for a successful flotation. However, there
were objections from the State Department, which was afraid of antagonizing
the Chinese. In August 1928, therefore, negotiations began in London.
But there was opposition from the Foreign Office, because of fears that
a tariff treaty with China would be adversely affected. This failure
indicates the collapse of the Japanese government's attempt to combine
an independent policy towards China with financial cooperation with
Britain and America.
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Tomoko HASHINO
Technology and the problem of quality in the textile industry of the
Meiji period (1868-1912)
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Low product quality is frequently a problem during the development of
manufacturing industries. The tendency to ascribe this to moral-hazard
behavior by producers is often substantially correct. However, technological
factors could also be involved, as in the case of the textile industry
of the early Meiji era. In other words, low quality was at least partly
caused by the attempts of enterprising producers to introduce new technology
in the form of chemical dyeing materials from Europe. The result was
poor-quality products which cost Japanese textile manufacturers their
good market reputation.
In this paper,
the report of a competitive exhibition of 1885 is used to provide an
objective evaluation of textile products. Efforts were made to establish
quantifiable standards for the exhibits in respect to elements such
as weaving, yarn quality, dyeing, length and weight, design, and price.
One of the most important findings is that dyeing posed more serious
problems of quality for silk textile products than for other kinds.
For this reason trade associations, especially in silk textile industry
districts, established institutions to teach producers how to apply
new technology.
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Hirotake YAZAWA
The labor supply behavior of non-household heads in prewar Japan
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This paper analyzes the labor supply behavior of wives and children
(non-household heads) in prewar families of low and middle income. The
labor supply behavior of non-household heads is more complicated than
that of household heads, because it depends on many factors, including
the wage rate of the former and the income of the latter. Moreover,
there is little reliable data for the prewar period. This paper draws
on two surveys of 1921: one of saimin (low-income) households, the other
of factory and salaried workers (the middle-income class).
By estimating the labor
supply function according to the probit model, it was possible to apply
Douglas-Arisawa's first and second laws to the non-household heads of
every household. The income elasticity of the salaried household heads
was greater than that of the saimin and factory workers. When the saimin
households were examined alone, Douglas-Arisawa's first law was applicable
to the wives, but the income elasticity of their household heads was
considerably less than in the post-war period. Because children were
able to enter modern industries more easily than wives, their earned
incomes lowered the need for their mothers to seek employment.