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With this book, Mark Metzler continues his investigation into the economic history of twentieth-century Japan that he began in Lever of Empire. In Capital as Will and Imagination, he focuses on the successful stabilization of Japanese capitalism after the Second World War. How did a defeated and heavily damaged nation manage reconstruction so rapidly? What economic beliefs resulted in the "miracle" years of high-speed economic growth? Metzler argues that the inflationary creation of credit was key to Japan's postwar success—and its eventual demise due to its instability over the long term.To prove his case, Metzler explores heterodox ideas about economic life, in particular Joseph Schumpeter's realization that inflation is intrinsic to capitalist development. Schumpeter's ideas, widely ignored within standard American neoclassical economic theory, were shaped by his experience of Austria's reconstruction after 1918. They were highly influential in Japan, and Metzler traces their impact in the period from the Allied Occupation, starting in 1945, through the Income Doubling Plan of 1960. Japan after defeat, Metzler argues, illustrates the critical importance of inflationary credit creation for increased production.
Mark Metzler is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan.
"Mark Metzler has written a brilliant book on the economic intellectual underpinnings of Japan's postwar economic recovery and subsequent high-speed economic growth. His approach and conclusions are both powerful and unique. Metzler argues that the European economist who had the greatest impact on Japanese planners after World War II was Joseph Schumpeter, who argued that finance capital is a way to direct the factors of production to new uses. In Capital as Will and Imagination, Metzler uses Schumpeter’s ideas and Japan’s experience as paradigms to look at the rise and development of modern capitalism in general. Building on his earlier book on Japan and the gold standard, Metzler has made himself the primary Western historian of Japanese capitalism in an international context."
Simon James Bytheway:
"Capital as Will and Imaginationis a Schumpeterian guide to the postwar economic miracle in that the inflationarycreation of credit was theorized by Schumpeter (over a century ago!). Indeed, Metzlerpresents compelling reasons for why we should be paying attention to Schumpeter'sideas right now.Thought-provoking, intellectually curious, and at timesdownright challenging, Capital as Will and Imagination tests the reader’s knowledgeand interpretation of the events that have come to characterize and define modernJapanese history. Replete with astute references and finely drawn observations, it is awork of great wisdom and intellect, a must for all those who seek to understand themiracle of Japan’s postwar economic growth."
Richard Swedberg, Cornell University, author of Joseph A. Schumpeter: His Life and Work:
"In this meticulously researched book, the author makes two provocative claims that are apt to start a debate: that Japan's quick growth after World War II was the result of inflation; and that Joseph Schumpeter advocated a mixture of entrepreneurship and inflation as the most effective way to create economic growth. The combination of solid scholarship with bold theorizing makes Capital as Will and Imagination into a very welcome addition to the current debate, not only of the economic history of Japan but also of the nature of economic growth and its causes."
Steven J. Ericson:
"Metzler has produced an incisive work full of stimulating insights into the capitalist development process as well as new and challenging ways of thinking about Japan's economic performance since World War II."
Tom Roehl:
"While maintaining a theoretical emphasis on these Schumpeterian principles of economic growth, Metzler also gives us a rich description of how one economy, that of early post-war Japan, executed the Schumpeter.... In this analysis, Metzler displays a careful, thorough examination of sources.... It is refreshing to see a book that emphasizes the role of the Ministry of Finance (mof) and the Economic Planning units."
John Sagers:
"This richly detailed study of the financial roots of Japan's high-growth era and meditation on the high costs of the ensuing bubble collapse is highly recommended for not only students of Japanese financial history, but anyone interested in the role of states and banks in the future of world capitalism."
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