Competition Policy vs. Industrial Policy as a Growth Strategy
Date:
3 April 2017Category:
Competitiveness, Industry and ManufacturingType:
Discussion PapersTags:
Competitiveness, IndustryPrint Article:
This paper examines the rationale behind industrial policy and competition policy as growth strategies, and shows that competition policy, rather than industrial policy, generated the rapid economic growth in post-war Japan. It also reveals that Japan's growth rate was lowered from the mid-1970s due to newly introduced industrial policies and paucity of further competition policy. The current Abe government recognises the need for competition policies in Japan to recover from the low-growth period. The paper describes the types of competition policy carried out under Abenomics, especially in strategic special economic zones.