The Depressing Effect of Agricultural Institutions on the Prewar Japanese Economy
用新古典两部门增长模型分析日本战前农业就业壁垒如何阻碍资本积累、压低产出，发现若无此壁垒，日本战前人均GNP可达美国的一半以上。
Why didn't the Japanese miracle take place before World War II? The culprit we identify is a barrier that kept prewar agricultural employment constant. Using a standard neoclassical two-sector growth model, we show that the barrier-induced sectoral distortion and an ensuring lack of capital accumulation account well for the depressed output level. Without the barrier, Japan's prewar GNP per worker would have been at least about a half of that of the United States, not about a third as in the data. The labor barrier existed because, we argue, the prewar patriarchy forced the son designated as heir to stay in agriculture. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.