To what extent the US contributed economic development of Japan: A New Perspective.
SCAP; Roles and Policies
SCAP was a governmental organisation that was established by the United States of America after the second World War during the occupation of Japan.
General Douglas MacArthur was the commander of the allied powers during the occupation, and led the organisation to determine where does the developments of Japan economically after the World War.
SCAP had many economic and non economic policies that built Japan’s economy all over again almost from scratch to make it seem like or actually be a modern and a democratic country.
The organisation created the economic stabilisation board which was a crucial policy to reconstruct the economic reality of Japan. More importantly, SCAP introduced one of the most important policies if not the most important, and that is the dismantling of Japan’s military industrial complex.
The role of the organisation was to reform and reconstruct Japan’s economy to ultimately westernize it by many policies including making Japan a free market capitalistic market.
Increased Exports from Japan to the U.S.
Start with, Japan success was mainly due to its producing and exporting of consumer goods such as textiles automobiles and electronics. Japanese companies had a competitive advantage over other countries due to the quality of products and low costs of production, utilising the labour market to create an efficient manufacturing process of the goods exported abroad.
In the early years post Second World War, The United states provided Japan with technical assistance in the infrastructure to rebuild it and to establish a stable economic base. United States which intended had a lot of demand for Japanese products, which was intended to fuel the Japanese economy, and to benefit from the Japanese goods to utilize them in the United States.
One of the main steps that the United states took towards The main steps that the United states took towards improving the Japanese economy was encouraging Japan's participation in international organisations like the world trade organisation and the International Monetary Fund. Moreover, the U.S. made sure to rebuild the economy of Japan in a way that suits the typical western economic structure so that it goes in line with the international capitalistic system, leading to an easier economic co-operation between Japan and the United States, as well as Japan and the rest of the world.
Knowledge Transfer from USA to Japan.
The United States implemented programs that aimed to transfer knowledge and skills Japan, it did so by following American procedures and the American knowledge building structure, with a pinch of ideological influence towards Japan’s economy and its people, as we see in the example of the program named “Technical Cooperation Program” which was built by Americans, and as said, followed the American ‘guidelines’
Role of the American Defence Alliance with Japan
America’s strategy was to contain the Soviet communist influence over Japan and over the other countries in the region. The United States provided military alliance to help with the strategy, but this means Japan simultaneously benefited from the alliance, to then protect itself from foreign military interests and secure all economic activities, specially in exporting goods to other countries so it could benefit financially and expand and improve the economy.
Anas Mousa,
Social Sciences University of Ankara — Department of Economics.
