Japanese Economy and Economic Policy ECON2108

2025 Short Essay information

Due: 18 April with submission by Turnitin.

A 1,000 word essay on a topic chosen from the list below or in consultation with the

lecturer. The short essay is worth 20% of the final grade.

The marking rubric is on the next page

Topics

1. What role did Japan’s industrial policies play for economic growth and

development in the postwar era? Were they essential? Does the Japanese

experience constitute a strong case for an interventionist state?

2. Why did Japan’s rate of economic growth significantly decline from the

1990s? Was the slowdown inevitable or was it a result of policy failure?

3. What were the particular circumstances that were favourable to Japan’s

economic modernisation in the Meiji period?

4. Why is the gender wage gap so high in Japan and what should be done about

it?

5. Discuss the evidence suggesting increasing income inequality in Japan.

What are the main causes of rising income inequality in Japan over the past

decade?

6. What are the factors (and institutional arrangements) that helped Japan’s

rapid growth? Are some of those hindering growth now?

7. A weak yen means exports are more competitive. Have net exports benefitted

from the weak yen or not and why? Why has the Japanese government

intervened in propping up the yen?

8. Would Japan have avoided its lost decades of growth from the 1990s if Japan

had deployed the policies that Takahasi Korekiyo had implemented in the

1930s?

9. Argue the economic case for or against Japan’s current large subsidies for

semiconductor production.

Referencing

You can use footnotes, in-text citations or hyperlinks but keep consistent throughout.

Marking rubric

Criteria

Things to pay attention to

Out of

Insightfulness of

analysis

● Perceptiveness of insights

● Coverage of topic

● Use of evidence

● Comprehensiveness of

analysis

● Relevance of analysis to

question

60

Clarity and

structure of writing

● Strength of introduction

● Points are well organised

● Coherent argument

● Emphasis on key points

30

Quality of writing

● Grammar, spelling and

punctuation

● Flow of sentences

10

TOTAL

100

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