Nissan Seminar: Compressed Development and Japan

Convener(s): Dr Natalia Doan and Dr Giulio Pugliese

Speaker(s): Professor Hugh Whittaker, Director of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford

This year’s Nissan Seminar will be held online.  Please click on the seminar title to register in advance and receive the meeting details.

Compressed Development and Japan

Abstract

The seminar draws on a new co-authored book Compressed Development: Time and Timing in Social and Economic Development (Oxford University Press).  Updating and modifying the ‘late development’ thesis, and incorporating institutional perspectives, it proposes a framework for comparing development across time and place, and highlights compression and discontinuities in recent high-growth Asian countries.  Japan is situated in this framework, which helps to explain institutional features of Japan’s high growth period, as well as its post-1990 economic challenges. 

Bio

Hugh Whittaker is Professor in the Economy and Business of Japan, and Director of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford.  His research explores employment, management, innovation, corporate governance and entrepreneurship in Japan and comparatively.  He has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Doshisha and Auckland. The book’s co-authors are Timothy Sturgeon, Toshie Okita and Tianbiao Zhu.