Changes In Japan During The Age Of Globalization

Jensen Tan

US History

Mr. Pegan

1/17/2016

Globalization The period from 1870 to 1914 represented the high water mark of 19th century globalization, which had been developing since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Nineteenth century globalization involved increasing transfers of commodities, people, capital and ideas between and within continents. The most straightforward measure of integration is simply the ratio of commodity trade to GDP, or the number of migrants per head of population. Another measure is the cost of moving goods or factors of production across borders, and this cost will show up in international price gaps. Trading during the period from 1870 to 1914 worked very well. In 1990 prices, European international trade grew

If economic growth during this Age of Globalization had been associated with growing income inequality, then the poor might not have benefited. However, this is not what happened for countries involved in the globalization process. The income gap narrowed between wealthy and poor nations that actively participated in global markets (although there was little effect on income distribution within these countries). Japan provides an extraordinary example. Starting in the seventeenth century, Japan completely cut itself off from the rest of the world, allowing only one Dutch ship per year to land in Nagasaki to engage in a small amount of trading. When Commodore Matthew Perry and his black ships arrived on Japanese shores in 1853 to force Japan to trade with the United States, Japan began to open up to the rest of the world. The resulting shake-up of Japanese society eventually led to the Meiji restoration in 1868, as a result of which Japan became fully engaged in the global economic system. In 1870, at the start of this period, Japan was a backward country with an average income per person that was less than a quarter of that in the United Kingdom. From 1870 to 1913, its income was able to grow at 1.5% in comparison to a growth rate of 1.0% for the United Kingdom, thereby narrowing the gap. Argentina’s growth experience during this period was even more extraordinary. From 1870, when

Globalizers did well, but, as critics of globalization point out, some countries were unable to take advantage of globalization. For example, countries like India and China actually deindustrialized during this period, with China’s income per person falling from 24% of the United Kingdom’s in 1870 to 13% in 1914. However, this increase in income inequality between globalizers and non-globalizers occurred because non-globalizers did so badly relative to globalizers. For countries that were able to take advantage of the globalization process, income inequality actually fell because globalizers that were initially so poor did so well relative to globalizers that started out rich. Increasing income inequality between countries during the period was clearly not the fault of globalization. It was rather a consequence of the inability or unwillingness of some countries to enter the global economic