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Identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10086/30118

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Title
Japan and the Asian Divergence: Market Integration, Climate Anomalies and Famines during the 18th and 19th Centuries
Creator
Creator Name
Bassino, Jean-Pascal Bassino, Jean-Pascal
Affiliation
Affiliation Name
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Creator Name
van der Eng, Pierre van der Eng, Pierre
Affiliation
Affiliation Name
The Australian National University
Editor
Contributor Name
Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University
Key Word
Great Divergence
Famine
market integration
Tokugawa Japan
VAR
ECM
JEL
I39
N15
N35
N45
N75
N95
Abstract
This paper asks whether better integration of rice markets in Japan during the 19th and 20th centuries compared to China and India explains the ‘Little Divergence’ in Asia and Japan’s role in the ‘Great Divergence’. It analyses rice prices for 13 markets across Japan during 1720-1857 and finds that Japan had relatively well-integrated rice markets, particularly western Japan. In eastern Japan market integration was partially impeded by distance to Osaka, which was the core market, and the greater ecological vulnerability of rice in northeast Japan to lower temperatures during the ‘little ice age’ that lasted until the mid-19th century. Relatively well-integrated markets did not prevent major famines during 1732-1733, 1783-1786, and 1833-1838, because stocks and supplies were insufficient to withstand the consequences of sequences of crop failures. Better integration of rice markets is indicative of higher allocative efficiency of markets in Japan which is a likely reason that ‘shrinking’ episodes caused fewer setbacks in long-term economic growth compared to in China and India.
Description
This version: 2019/03/01
Publisher
Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University
Issued Date
2019-03
Language
English(eng)
Resource Type
technical report
Version Type
VoR
Is Part OfRelation -
Related Title
CEI Working Paper Series, No. 2018-18
Relation
Related Title
This paper is an extensively amended version of an earlier study circulated under the title ‘Market integration and famines in early modern Japan 1717-1857’
Related Identifier
URI
  http://cei.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/English/index.html
Number of Pages
45
Sponsorship
Bassino also acknowledges support by the NSF project ‘Global Price and Income History, 1200-1950’ (Grant #34-3476-00-09-781-7700) and the CNRS fellowship at the French Research Institute on Japan (Nichi Futsu Kaikan, Tokyo).
Appears in Collections
CEI Working Paper Series
URL
https://hdl.handle.net/10086/30118