Recent industrial policies in Japan

Abstract

Traditional Japanese industrial policies have since the 1990s evolved towards knowledge-based industrial policies. In this chapter we first explain the salient features of both the traditional and knowledge-based industrial policies and compare them from the perspective of the role of the government. Knowledge-based industrial policies emphasize the role of the government as a facilitator and coordinator rather than a guide. Accordingly the policy instruments differ as well. The changing global economic environment in the era of the knowledge economy and the emergence of new regional rivals Korea and China also led to significant changes in policy design and corporate governance styles as well. On the other hand we argue that there is still an influence of the developmental state practices in policy-making. To present a full account of the recent industrial policies in Japan we present the recent changes in the policy-making process as well as the economic mindset with reference to the official documents on industrial policies. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.