MITI and the Japanese Miracle

The book â€Å"MITI and the Japanese Miracle† by Chalmers Johnson should be considered the classic of contemporary historical and economic studies because it significantly contributes the fields by examining and analyzing developmental states. In particular, Johnson discusses economic development strategies of East Asian country – Japan. Nowadays Japan’s economy is swiftly developing and in future Japan is very likely to achieve leading positions on the world scale. Therefore, the author decided to provide detailed overview of Japan economic development – how undeveloped country managed to improve economic positions and become very influential. I think that book is very informative and analytic because the author doesn’t tend to be dry and technical. Actually, the book is a well-written and coherent novel. The book highlights past details with new expressiveness. It is necessary to outline that Johnson depicts the discourse of Japanese economy in terms of mercantilism. Johnson states that the Japanese economy is labeled as mercantilist after anti-trade economies of Spain and Portugal have been attacked by Adam Smith. Thus, Johnson developed more exact political-economic model of capitalist development state. Japanese economy was characterized by suppression of consumption, supervision of domestic industries, and funneling savings into business development. Johnson provides overview of the history of MITI stressing that it is central to political and economic history of Japan.   He argues that mercantilism seemed to be vanished long before the economics took shape. In other words, mercantilism can’t be defined as operating economic theory as it was simply pragmatic adaptation. Mercantilism is claimed to anticipate and even to contradict market concepts and signals. The goal of mercantilism is to channel the resources to selected sectors pursuing the interests of elite groups and powerful figures. Apparently, mercantilism resulted in income discrimination. Johnson cites economists who state that mercantilism is nothing more than death of market efficiency. Market should be more efficient that the wisdom of the state, Johnson assumes. Also mercantilism affects resource allocation leading to rent-seeking distortions. So, mercantilism is associated to do harm rather than to provide benefits for economic development and national wealth. The author asserts that resource allocation shouldn’t be guided by the state because its role is to provide overall good and to respond adequately to market threats and opportunities. This kind of role is labeled as regulatory state. For example, Great Britain and the United States of America are regulatory state. According to Johnson, the task of regulatory state is to set rule aimed at governing competition, investment opportunities, pricing policies, entries and exits, and many other market functions. This process is called economic regulation. It is noted that economic regulation should establish a framework for market operation and should respond to problems and failures of market. Johnson examines Japan as developmental states and says that economic regulation in the country goes beyond the market maintenance. In developmental state the primary mission is to ensure long-term national welfare. The state is very likely to intervene actively into all economic and financial activities with the purpose of improving international competitiveness of the country. Japan is very bureaucratic state and economic and business readers don’t accept the strategies of laissez-faire, open markets, and free trade. Japanese leaders viewed the mentioned concepts as protection of economically powerful and influential exporters. Therefore, Japan’s strategy as developmental state is to reject the extant hierarchy of competitive advantage, as far as high return sectors would ensure high growth rates. However, such sectors aren’t associated with developing countries. Also there is no need for developing countries to rest with labor-intensive industries and agriculture. As Chalmers Johnson claims, these sectors should be with low growth prospect or, in other words, they should be low value-added. Developmental states should pay more attention to such strategy. Japanese government tends to utilize activist policies to promote and practice competitive advantage strategy. In this respect, developmental state is the result of neo-mercantilism and economic nationalism. Japan is also driven by such motive as the country refers to economic regulation to intensify and enhance technological development, as well as competitiveness of country’s leading industries, and capacity growth. Competitiveness is considered to be very essential for national economy. The abovementioned models don’t reject the role of the state in economic activities. Nevertheless, they are different as far as they provide different perspectives on resource allocation. Neoclassical economists stress state efficiency, whereas the point of neo-mercantilism is state effectiveness. The author argues that there is no empirical criterion how to judge which model is valid because each model is supported by evidence. Everything depends on the trends which are constantly changing. Johnson captured public attention and interest for its timing rather than for theoretical superiority. The author describes 1980s when economy has lost its effectiveness. Johnson writes that the United States also failed to compete decently both at the world and domestic markets. In that period the economies of developed and developing countries weren’t on the peak of success. In those days states were interested in comparative advantage and competitiveness. Johnson claims both competitive advantage and competitiveness are rather effectiveness rather than efficiency. If economy is efficient, it may perform effectively at world and domestic markets. Japan was   a teacher rather than formidable competitor. That is why the book catches attention. Johnson appeared to be the only writer who discussed Japan’s economy in such terms. In his book Johnson challenges neoclassical economic theory. References Johnson, Ch. (2003). MITI and the Japanese Miracle: the Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press.   

Job analysis on Priority Plastics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Job analysis on Priority Plastics - Case Study Example To achieve this goal, Priority Plastics, Inc. needs a job analysis plan. In essence, job analysis creates job descriptions that in turn define the duties and responsibilities of the employee. The realized job description also highlights qualification requirements desired by the employer, as well as how they relate or enhance job performance. The first step in Priority Plastics, Inc.’s plan is to determine the scope of its human resource needs. As the situation stands, the company needs to hire more employees, replace those who are leaving the company, and fill other vacant positions in other departments. In this respect, the scope is relatively wide because it covers other departments within the firm. The second step in the plan is to define the process and procedure of developing job descriptions. In this case, this effort will be an interdepartmental affair. The Human resource manager and the part-time HR Generalist need to consult with employees, supervisors, managers, and other stakeholders to determine the possible number of positions that need to be created in the company. Once this is determined, the plan goes to the next level. After consulting with key stakeholders about every aspect that relates to the company’s hiring needs, the next step is to undertake job audits. Job auditing evaluates the current human resource structuring to identify areas of success, failure, overlaps, or gaps in the human resource system (Robinson & Franklin, 2013). The primary goal of job audits is to match employees with what they are currently doing in the firm and determine areas of improvement in the next hiring cycle. In essence, the planned hiring should come in to make the company even more effective and efficient. Following job auditing, it will be clear which employees handle which tasks, and what duties or responsibilities should be directed towards new employees (Wilson, Bennett,

The Quality of Aircraft traffic control at Dubai international airport Essay

The Quality of Aircraft traffic control at Dubai international airport sultan - Essay Example The research objectives include analyzing the qualifications of employees working in the air traffic control department, the number of employees working in the air traffic control department, the efforts by the airport to reduce and overcome air traffic in Dubai international airport, and the future air traffic control strategies cater for future expansion of the airport. Air traffic controllers are known to be individuals who are educated to keep up the safe, methodical and swift flow of air travel within the worldwide air travel control structure. Various nations have Air travel Control educational institutions, academies or universities, often managed by the serving source of air travel services within that nation, but from time to time in confidence. These institutions train apprentice controllers from the wherever they have been to the standards needed to embrace an Air Travel Control certificate, which will hold one or additional ratings. Air travel controllers are in the main people who have excellent organization skills, are swift with numeric computation, along with mathematics, have confident and firm resolution making proficiencies, have the capacity to uphold their cool and tranquility under pressure, in addition to possessing an outstanding short-term recollection. An air traffic control officer is an individual who offers service and is accountable for the secure air travel flow, from one airfield to the next. Growing congestion within the skies over the Arabian bay is one serious predicament among the predicaments threatening the development of the areas aviation business. As one would expect, one of the resolutions for augmenting the airports capability is their expansion. It is comprehensible that as the air travel demand develops, carriers are attempting to expand their business operations as much as probable. Therefore, one of the developments people have been witnessing

The issue of immigration is complicated in the United States, Essay

The issue of immigration is complicated in the United States, basically because many more people want to come to this country th - Essay Example Others believe that we should extend amnesty and broaden our immigration policy so that many more immigrants can come here, especially as guest workers for a limited time. Opinion polls continually show aen overwhelming opposition to illegal immigration as well as for the idea of amnesty. Amnesty for illegal aliens is simply a reward for law-breakers and encourages even more illegal immigration. Those who want amnesty for illegal aliens do not seem to realize that a crime. Illegal immigrants receive more from public monies than they contribute which lowers the standard of living for legal citizens. Illegal immigrants contribute greatly to the overall population growth and health care, education and employment are the most impacted. Salaries are driven down by illegal immigrants willing to work for much less while their children, illegal and legal, overcrowd the schools. It’s the U.S. taxpayer who is sent the bill for their health care services as well. In addition, the large i nflux of illegal aliens burdens the already inadequate number of units classified as affordable housing and other welfare resources such as energy, water and land usage (â€Å"Illegal Immigration†). Laws should be enacted that bring criminal charges against all those who aid illegal aliens to gain entry into the country and against those employers who hire them.

Adoption Social Work Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Adoption Social Work Law - Essay Example he National Minimum Standards for Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Local Authority Adoption Service Act of 2003 and the National Minimum Standards for Adoption Support Agencies Act of 2005 in England. Ball (2005) reflects that the series of legislation is indicative of the growing interest and concern for adoption. She points out that adoption is not anymore a last recourse for families who are unable to conceive children but has become a matter of personal choice, if not an expression of social opinion. The 2002 Adoption and Children Act follows closely the provisions set forth by the Children Act 1989 particularly in its emphasis on welfare protection. One of the most critical provisions is the requirement for local authorities to establish a local adoption service pursuant to primarily to the Minimum Standards for Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Local Authority Adoption Service Act of 2003 as well as to national regulatory statutes. The local adoption agencies will be tasked to accomplish assessment of adopting parties, develop and institute support services and implement regulatory measures as needed. For adoption support agencies and other services, national standards for operations and performance were established. In effect, independent adoption agencies were required to subscribe to a uniform system of accessing information, delivering services and developing a database of information for retrieval for minors who were adopted when they reach maturity. The Act also provides for the regulation of inter-country adoption which has significantly increased to the due to international advocacies for the placement of displaced children due to war or wide-scale poverty (Parker & Bradley, 2007) In the 2002 provisions, there is greater sensitivity to changes in social constructions of â€Å"family†. The provisions provided opportunities for adoption for single individuals as well as unmarried couples. The legislation also responded to concerns regarding

Comparative analysis of two texts(can be films, short stories, poems) Essay

Comparative analysis of two texts(can be films, short stories, poems) you are free to choose both texts but they should be conne - Essay Example Different audiences interpret different arts differently provided they can draw a connection between their hypothesis and the actual works of art. Among the most conspicuously addressed themes in any work of art is normally the psycogeography. The theme includes the geographical representation of the setting drawing great prominence on the visible geographical aspects of the setting of the work of art. Events happen in places, to give an effective understanding of the places, writers must always provide an effective description of the places in which they choose to set their works. The geographical factors of a place help the audience conceptualize the possibilities that the writer later claims in his or her works. Additionally, the factors help create a sense of recognition among some audiences with knowledge of the places while it heightens the imagination of those unaware of the places an important feature that helps develop suspense thereby draws either readership or viewership t o the different works of literature. The films Coming to America produced in 1988 and the Saturday Night Fever produced in 1977 are two theatrical masterpieces that employ the use of different literary stylistic devices to ensure success; the films use such elements of literature to depict several similar themes. However, owing the different story lines, the films depict their respective themes differently thereby portraying the both the difference in their film genres and their audience specifications. Set in different times, the films address different societal issues but in the same setting. The two films are set in different parts of the New York City. While Coming to America bases its storyline on the life in the expansive Queens region, Saturday Night Fever is set in Brooklyn. His two films address the different themes differently, key among the themes, which are in both films are psychogeography, living cities, and urban landscapes. Owing to the different messages in the film s, the writers address the themes differently thereby achieving relative successes in developing their work. Coming to America begins in an imaginary setting, a Kingdom in an underdeveloped African country. The setting in the Kingdom is expansive with flawless natural beauty. The gardens are rife with vegetation creating a clean and ever fresh environment in which wild animals interact freely with humans and other domestic animals. The young prince Akeem has lived in the kingdom all his life and is now of age and ready to marry. His father, the king, presents him with virgins from which he is to pick a bride. He however refuses and decides to find a wife for himself. The writer fuses the desires of the young Akeem with the American society so seamlessly by claiming that the young prince later decides to come to America to find himself a wife. He settles in the sprawling Queens Township from where the contrast in the two settings depicts itself naturally. The African Kingdom is under developed and the population of the people is relative thereby making it conducive for habitation. The obvious lack of infrastructure in the region portray a technological gap that the prince fills up once in America. Life in the African Kingdom is simple and people eat fresh vegetables and fruits readily available in the evergreen gardens. The palace is more opulent and the prince

Reflect on If I could be any historical figure within the time period, Research Paper - 1

Reflect on If I could be any historical figure within the time period, who would I be and why - Research Paper Example Whereas many of the founding fathers were ultimately against slavery, there were several that either did not discuss the issue in any level of depth or did not see it as a vital issue to the strength and continued growth/prosperity of the nation. Interestingly, many of the pro-and anti-slavery statements that were made by the founding fathers varied little throughout their lives. What is meant by this is that individuals such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison retained strong proslavery sentiments and wrote prolifically about the benefits that the institution of slavery had to offer. By the same token, individuals such as James Madison held anti-slavery views throughout his entire life. However, a third group necessarily exists within this seemingly obvious dichotomy. Individuals such as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington initially held proslavery views; however, as they began to integrate with the American experience and formulate a more nuanced and philosophical understandi ng of the concepts of democracy, self determinism, and freedom of choice, their views concerning slavery began to shift. Whereas it is impossible to trace all of the founding fathers that had an epiphany with regards to slavery, this particular analysis will focus upon Benjamin Franklin and the way in which his political leanings began to shift later in his life with regards to the issue of slavery. In seeking to promote such an understanding of realization, the following analysis will focus specifically on primary that Benjamin Franklin was himself responsible for writing. Like many of the founding fathers, Franklin himself owned slaves in the earlier part of his life. However, as a result of his metropolitan nature and incessant travels, not to mention his polymath tendencies towards reading and writing on topics as broad and diverse as economics, philosophy, and ethics, Franklin came to understand that the practice of slavery was in and of itself abhorrent. As such, he soon relea sed the few slaves that he did possess. However, merely releasing the slaves that he was responsible for was not enough for Franklin. Rather, due to the fact that he saw slavery as such a morbid and horrific societal ill, he began to advocate abolition at a time when abolitionists were far from being in the vote. One of the most famous means through which Franklin was able to affect this was by signing and sending a petition to the first Congress in February 1790. Among other things, the petition requested time devoted towards â€Å"devising means removing the inconsistency from the character of the American people and promoting mercy and justice towards this distressed race† (Basker 221). However, before the reader begins to assume that Benjamin Franklin was a champion of human rights throughout his entire life, it must be added that beyond merely owning up to seven slaves in the earlier years, Franklin also worked for the Pennsylvania Gazette and was responsible for the pri nting and publication of information concerning wanted ads for the sale of slaves as well as rewards for the capture and return of runaway slaves (Franklin 7). Obviously, this information in and of itself must have touched upon the conscience of Benjamin Franklin as a means of promoting him towards a level of abolitionism later years. However, the fact remains that Benjamin Franklin can convincingly be labeled as both a tacit advocate of slavery as well as an abolitionist