The political economy of Japan's financial deregulation

This dissertation seeks to demonstrate that Japan's financial deregulation generally reflects the changed interests of the financial sector in a mature economy. Contrary to the "strong-state" view of Japan in which the bureaucracy is depicted as directing economic policy making, or the "populist-state" view in which the interests of the voting public prevail, the case of financial deregulation bears out a "negotiated-state" conception of Japan. The bureaucracy is, in a real sense, accountable to elected representatives on policy issues and therefore lacks the capability to achieve substantive autonomy from the political process. At the same time, the concentration and high level of organization of the financial sector affords it a decisive advantage over the general public in negotiating with both the bureaucracy and with political representatives.