Japan is not a big country in East
Asia but have a great economy as the report said that the growth of Japan’s
economy is one of ten largest world economy. Actually, after World War II Japan
had a rapid growth manufactures and economy things like the industrial that
moved quickly to adopt new world development in only 30 years. It was very
great movement for Japan instead of being consumptive to USA products in
households, automobiles and other machinery. The Japanese government
supported manufactures with protectionist policy like tax and subsidies and
also quotas. As Kenichi Otabe, Japanese trade negotiator, said that Japanese
government encourages
and protects those industries which it believes important for reasons of
national policy. Even there is comparative advantage principles, Japan had chosen to be a
self-sufficient and not depend on other country for products even now. So, Japan
was a success example of protectionist policy in the first post-war and so on.
As we already know that
protectionism is a government intervenes that restricts trading between
countries. Learn from Japan, protectionism policy tries to protect market and
the impacts on customers, domestic industrial as producer, and also the labor.
In the process of being leader, Japan limited the imports quotas and only
allowing foreign investments in technology which made Japan products more
technologies to be export right now and the most exporter country in technology.
Even though Adam Smith conveyed in
18th century that to keep the market going well people had to be free in
economy without government intervenes, but as the world goes on that principle
cannot be acceptable right now for many reasons. The most point is presented by
John Maynard Keynes in 1926 that people can’t rely the hard situations like
recession and depressions which is nationally case and to protect the market stable
we need some wise policy then. So, for good stability in national economy some
ways lay on protectionist policy. The forms of protectionism itself lay on tariffs, quotas, and also regulatory barriers. Tariffs policy is shape
on tax and subsidies. Tax and subsidies are link to each other because
subsidies itself is the revenue of tax on products. The tax given is to shift
income from gainers to losers as we know in economy there always zero-sum game.
Government intervention in quotas is a restriction policy to production
quantity and also has different tariffs in each goods. Different from the
others, regulatory barriers tends to escalate the quality and there are no
tariffs in this regulation.
Unfortunately, this restriction
policy is limiting trade between countries, but not only that the protectionism
itself could maintains the economic stability as I mentioned about Japan before
and also not only Japan, China is one of successful economy because there is
protectionism. Although every country right now apply that policy, protectionism is a must for country and
every country should have own this policy but too much protectionism isn’t good
because it could obstruct the foreign economy which reducing too much products
in import. The economy should be maintains for good power because with great
economy the power of country will rise ahead. In conclusion, the ultimate basis
of these policies is an attitude towards economics that sees the economy not as
an end in itself, but as an instrument of national power (Ian Fletcher).
Posted by,
Safira Damayanti
1701357090
Sources:
Helpman,
Elhanan., Gainers and Losers in Understanding Global Trade, Ch. 3
Balaam, David
N., “Laissez-Faire”: The Economic Liberal Perspective in Introduction to
International Political Economy Fifth Edition, Ch. 4
Freiden and
Lake, Protectionist Trade Policies, Ch. 19
