Description: Japan today is caught up in chronic economic crisis, its financial system wracked by record-breaking bankruptcies and its companies hobbled by bad balance sheets, overproduction, and weak consumer demand. In turn, Japan's faltering fortunes have sent shock waves across Asia, triggering the collapse of economies in South Korea, Thailand, and other Asian countries that followed its model for rapid growth and development. While many blame the misguided policies of Japan's Ministry of Finance, the root of Japan's malaise lies in the contradictory relationship that first made it an economic powerhouse: the combination of businesses that aggressively compete for profits in the best tradition of free enterprise with a government bureaucracy that controls the economy with a heavy thicket of regulation and guidance.

In this book, Japanese, American, and European journalists and authorities in the business, political, and economic sectors examine the problems caused by overregulation, and offer solutions for reshaping the Japanese marketplace. In Part One, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Vice Minister of Finance Eisuke Sakakibara, and other leading experts map out the long road to regulatory reform. They analyze the postwar origins of today's bureaucracy and the changes that must occur to achieve true reform. Part Two focuses on the effects of over-regulation, using case studies involving Japan's financial system, insurance, markets, nonprofit industries, and regulatory agencies.

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