Publications

Before the Japanese stock market crash of 1990, Japanese industry was a phenomenal success. A recent unemployment rate of under 4 percent, although low by world standards, is the highest Japan has experienced since the current mode of calculation began in 1953. Japan's industrial dominance, sustained prosperity, and commitment to lifetime employment seem to be in danger. Research Associate William Lazonick, of INSEAD and the Center for Industrial Competitiveness at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell, takes issue with this perception. He finds that the Japanese economy is in a better position than the United States to achieve sustainable prosperity, which he defines as "the spreading of the benefits of economic growth to more and more people over a prolonged period of time."