@book {66521, title = {Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan}, year = {2008}, month = {Jul 1, 2008}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, organization = {Cambridge University Press}, abstract = {This book explains how postwar Japan managed to achieve a highly egalitarian form of capitalism despite meager social spending. Est{\'e}vez-Abe develops an institutional, rational-choice model to solve this puzzle. She shows how Japan{\textquoteright}s electoral system generated incentives that led political actors to protect, if only for their own self-interested reasons, various groups that lost out in market competition. She explains how Japan{\textquoteright}s postwar welfare state relied upon various alternatives to orthodox social spending programs. The initial postwar success of Japan{\textquoteright}s political economy has given way to periods of crisis and reform. This book follows this story up to the present day. Est{\'e}vez-Abe shows how the current electoral system renders obsolete the old form of social protection. She argues that institutionally Japan now resembles Britain and predicts that Japan{\textquoteright}s welfare system will also come to resemble Britain{\textquoteright}s. Japan thus faces a more market-oriented society and less equality.}, url = {http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521722216}, author = {Est{\'e}vez-Abe, Margarita} }