What The United States Can Learn From Japan
Japan and the Four Little Dragons in order to achieve their
industrialization goals have a diverse set of policies ranging from limited
entitlement programs to a education and government bureaucracy that stresses
achievement and meritocracy. But one of the most significant innovations of
Japan and the Four Little Dragons is there industrial policy which targets
improving specific sectors of the economy by focusing R&D, subsidies, and tax
incentives to specific industries that the government wants to promote. The
United States could adopt some of these industrial policies to help foster
emerging high tech businesses and help existing U.S. business remain competitive
with East Asia.
In Japan the government both during the Meiji period and the post World
War II period followed a policy of active, sector selective industrial targeting.
Japan used basically the same model during both historical periods. The Japanese
government would focus its tax incentive programs, subsidies, and R&D on what it
saw as emerging industries.
