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Analyzing Japanese Economy

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Submitted By kurbandemocrat
Words 1090
Pages 5
Data 02/16/2014
The mechanism behind Japanese foreign trade
VS
China & South Korea.
Background information:
After World War 2 japan recovered very rapidly and had economic boom. Japans economic growth was very high. Here is a table showing Japan’s economic growth.

Behind this scenario were couple essential factors: JETRO- japans external trade organization, MITI- ministry of international trade and Industry, after renamed to METI- Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Sogo-Shosho independent trading houses, Japan bank for international corporation, Institute of developing economies under METI and Ministry of Finance.
MITI: Combining to two different sectors under single ministry already emphasizes how long oriented and strategic meaning it carries. The main engine of Japanese economy was industry that includes- machinery, high-tech, etc… And coming to trade it is also main accumulator of Japans GPD. Japans economy relies on export mostly. Japan in early 80-90 had huge gap of budget surplus. It exported much more than it imported and that imbalance between export and imports directly influenced US economy. Japan had and still has very exclusive channel distribution. Foreign companies cannot directly sell to japan. There are many informal barriers for foreign companies. More than that Japanese companies used predatory pricing strategy wherever they go. They set aggressive pricing strategy against competitors that couldn’t survive in market. In addition to these, Japanese yen until Plaza Accord were playing significant role against US dollar. Until late 80s and early 90s the recessionary effects of the strengthened yen in Japan's export-dependent economy created an incentive for the expansionary monetary policies that led to the Japanese asset price bubble. The Louvre Accord was signed in 1987 to halt the continuing decline of the U.S. dollar.
The signing of the Plaza Accord was significant in that it reflected Japan's emergence as a real player in managing the international monetary system. Yet it is postulated that it contributed to the Japanese asset price bubble, which ended up in a serious recession, the so-called Lost Decade.
Sogo Shohos roles are also very significant. Sogo-shoho which includes seven big companies such as Toyota, Itochu etc. has over 1200 offices in 200 cities around the world. The main roles of those houses are they supply large volumes of raw materials goods from large manufacturers or wholesalers to smaller distributors and retailers. On the other end, they act as an international sales force for medium- and small-sized companies without the ability to market and maintain distribution channels overseas. They also often act as the linchpin of large consortium contracts ranging from the building of shopping malls to railway and other property projects, coordinating the activities of banks, construction, and logistics companies.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton. Luara Tyson had many significant effort in regulation trade imbalance between number one economy- US and japan.
These all mentioned scenarios with japan are in the past but there rise another headache for US- China. China’s economic success is slightly less complicated than Japan had in 80s-90s.
China’s emerging economy relies on cheap human capital, huge natural resources and new market.
China despite of Japan has waste are of land and has another opportunist for business. China is now technologically very developed, has the largest middle-income class population and has enough educated personal. Demographically china has more young population than “old world”- Europe. China produces everything from machinery to pharmaceutical, from food to weapons.
Success behind China’s economical boom is opportunities that china provides to potential investors. Many global companies now shifting from west to southeast, which are China, South Korea, and India. Now china’s export against import is very huge. Even if china had budget deficit last couple years it is still has very imbalanced trade. China’s market is not saturated yet and it is expected that china will have imports from west but still this balance needs for further regulation. In last couple years US vice president Joe Biden went to China to meet government officials of China. As Laura Tyson did to Japan in the past. Number one priority of those trips was to regulate China’s Yuan CNY against US dollars. Coming to China, it fixed its currency to US dollar, which is much more stronger than Yuan, so if dollar rise Yuan rise and vice versa. So it becomes very expensive to import to china but very cheap for china.
Coming to South Korea we can observe same scenario. South Korea exports more than imports and it has budget surplus. South Korean won also were pegged to US dollar. It makes trade difficulty between two countries. Main engine of South Korean industry is Automobile industry and technology- Smartphones like Samsung, TVs, PCs etc. And market for goods produced in South Korea is US as in case with Japan and China. South Korea produces for US but in its turns it doesn’t import goods from US. In it had some barrier for foreign companies to import to Korea. So US plead to WTO and that regulations eased the trade barriers.
Africa is emerging market for potential investors. When Europe, North and South America and some part of Asia are saturated already Africa just came to market we can say. Huge land resources, huge natural resources and huge potential customers attract companies from all around the globe. Africa becoming richer day by day and market is empty. So next stop for Chinese mega factories is Africa. China has cheap labor force, available resources available technology and in this sector no one can compete with china in Africa. India also has resources but not enough to compete with china. In 1980 investment was $1 billion and in 2012 $164 billion. Some experts criticize china in Africa as neo Colonist. The major sectors china invests in Africa are Energy, Health care and everyday goods.
In last decade world changed dramatically, form colony of England China become world second economy. By other words we can say that now many countries is in economic colony of china. If china shut downs most of the citizens of the world will feel like their refrigerators where they store they foods broke down, their wardrobes where they store they clothes gone off and the technology they use break down. But how long will this last? And Who is next occupant of our everyday life goods. India? Brazil? Russia? Time will show.

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