Within economics, few issues are more central than the role of the state in the economy; within Japanese studies, few are more central than the role the Japanese government has played in post-war economic growth. With exquisite attention to theory and meticulous attention to detail, this book focuses on both these topics with startling results. Yoshiro Miwa asks whether a state can correct market failures and in particular critically analyses the performance of the Japanese economy as a result of state intervention within it. In order to examine the capacity of the state to promote growth,...