Public Policy and Economic Competition in Japan

Viewed historically as the lapdog of business, bureaucratic and political interests, Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has had mixed success in promoting its agenda for stronger antimonopoly policy since the early 1970s. Dr. Beeman unravels antimonopoly politics in Japan through an analysis of the diverse interests of industry, government, and other parties to reveal how and why antimonopoly policy has made important inroads yet ultimately failed to gain deep acceptance in Japan. The book covers a range of developments in antimonopoly policy during the period 1973-1995, including efforts to: * Strengthen penalties and the regulation of business behaviour under the Antimonopoly Law * extend enforcement of the law to regulated sectors of the economy such as transportation and finance * limit anti-competitive aspects of other industrial and commercial policies, including those toward depressed industries and the construction sector. Employing extensive use of primary research materials and numerous interviews, Dr. Beeman finds predictable patterns of change as well as themes of continuity in the development of Japan’s antimonopoly policy.
By addressing a broad array of industry sectors and policy issues, the book provides fresh insight into an agency and a policy that have often been criticized from within Japan as too stringent and from outside Japan as too lax.