Yoshiro Miwa asks whether a state can correct market failures and in particular critically analyses the performance of the Japanese economy as a result of state intervention within it. In order to examine the capacity of the state to promote growth, Miwa examines the Japanese machine tool industry, the government's role in promoting this sector and government efforts to achieve growth in small and medium sized enterprises in Japan.

Yoshiro Miwa is Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo, Japan.

Preface Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations Part I Wartime Control 1. The Machine Tool Industry under Wartime Control 1.1 The Issues 1.2 The Precision Tool Control (PTC) Association and the Machine Tool Industry 1.3 The Behaviour and Function of the State Before the PTC Association 1.4 Concluding Remarks Part II The High Growth Era 2. The Machinery Industries under the 1956 Statutory Regime 2.1 The Issues 2.2 An Outline and Evaluation of the 1956 Act: Preliminaries 2.3 The Effectiveness of the 1956 Statutory Framework 2.4 The Machine Tool Industry under the 1956 Statutory Regime 2.5 Concluding Remarks Part III Contemporary Japan 3. Policies for Small Business 4. Who Actually Determines the Substance of Policies and How? Conclusion Reference Index