Notes on: Centuries of Economic Endeavor: Parallel Paths in Japan and Europe and Their Contrast with the Third World, by John P. Powelson
In the preface Powelson makes this observation:
In the quest to raise vast numbers out of poverty all over the world--known as "economic development"-- all that I was proposing to governments had been advocated for centuries: land reform, liberal trade, sound money, realistic exchange rates, stable fisc, enforcement of contracts, adequate public investment, privatization of enterprise, defense of property rights, and economic integration. Yet for centuries in most of the world, these good orders had not been adopted or if adopted, had not lasted.
Powelson notes that only Japan and the societies of northwestern Europe and their lineal cultural descendants in North America and Australia-New Zealand have achieved high levels of development, high living standard, high quality infrastucture, and political stability. He says,
In both Japan and northwestern Europe, the methods, rules, and instruments of policy and exchange were fashioned primarily by bargaining among the parties concerned: farmers, landowners, producers, and traders. There was a power diffusion process that has not occured in other countries.
Bibliography: