Japan since 1980 / Thomas F. Cargill, Takayuki Sakamoto.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-306) and index.

Economic and political institutions in the 1970s -- The "high-water mark" of the Japanese economy -- a "model" of financial liberalization: 1980 to 1985 -- An accident waiting to happen -- the bubble economy from 1985 to 1990 -- Economic and financial distress from 1990 to 2001 and the turning point -- Why did the economic and financial distress last so long? -- The transition of political institutions in thee 1990s and the new century -- Political economy of Japan's fiscal program -- Koizumi administration's reform in broad perspective: fiscal consolidation and market reform -- Japan's corporate governance, labor practices, and citizens' social and economic life at the beginning of the new century -- Japanese political economy in the first decade of the new century.

This text is an analysis of the performance of Japan's economic and political institutions from late 1970s to 2007. It explains how Japan's flawed response to economic, political, and technological forces ushered in a lost decade and a half of economic development from 1990.