A History of Economic Science in Japan

Japanese economists started to publish their theoretical achievements in scientific journals including Econometrica in the 1950s and made their significant contributions to the sophistication of general equilibrium analysis by intensive use of a variety of mathematical instruments. They contributed to the transformation of neoclassical economics including the so-called Walrasian general equilibrium analysis into the one written and talked in more plain English, Japanese, and other languages than before. This book examines how it became possible for Japanese economists by shedding light on the "professional" discussion of the international gold standard and parity policies in the early twentieth century, the acceptance of neoclassical economics originated by Jevons, Menger and Walras in the following period, the impact of establishment of the Econometric Society (1930), and the swift distribution of theory-oriented economics journals since 1930.

This book also includes topics on the historical research of Japanese economic thought, the transformation of the economics of Keynes into Keynesian economics, Japanese developments in econometrics, and Martin Bronfenbrenner’s visit to Japan in the post-WWII period.