著者

牧野 文夫

出版者

法政大学経済学部学会

雑誌

経済志林 = The Hosei University Economic Review (ISSN:00229741)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.86, no.3・4, pp.231-275, 2019-03-20

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The subject of this paper is to examine the distribution of land ownership in Tokyo City. For this purpose, a database of taxable landowners is made, using land registry data compiled in the late 1910s and early 1930s. Before the Meiji restoration, land ownership was distributed highly unequally in Tokyo because approximately 70% of Edo territory was owned by Daimyos (clan lords). A large part of the total land in Tokyo City was owned by ex-Daimyos and wealthy businessmen such as the Marquis Maeda, the Iwasaki family (the owner of the Mitsubishi financial and industrial conglomerate) or the Mitsui family, even in the late Meiji period. Large land ownership shifted from personal owners to corporate owners with the territorial expansion of Tokyo City. The financial crisis of the late 1920s (Showa Kyoko) also facilitated the shift from personal to corporate ownership due to the decline of the Kazoku (peerage). It should be emphasized that wealthy businessmen transferred their personal financial assets or real estate to the Hozenkaisha (asset preservation companies) that were developed in the mid-1910s. Estimates of the Gini coefficient of land assets owned by households proved that the highly unequal distribution of land remained unchanged in Tokyo City during the late 1910s and early 1930s.

著者

牧野 文夫

出版者

法政大学経済学部学会

雑誌

経済志林 = 経済志林 (ISSN:00229741)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.85, no.1, pp.105-139, 2017-08-22

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This paper discusses the distribution of income and wealth, and poverty in Japan from the late Meiji Era to the late 1930s, using microdata on assessed income obtained for the collection of the local household tax called Kosūwari in selected areas. The analysis demonstrates several interesting results. First, Gini coefficients based on household income in these selected areas show that income inequality rose as incomes went up. Second, the decomposition of the Gini coefficient among different income levels suggests that the income share in middle income groups dropped markedly when income inequality worsened sharply. Third, decomposing the Gini by income sources for rural areas showed that a decline in non-agricultural incomes affected rising rural income inequality during periods of economic recession, while income from agricultural activities and income by renting out farm land increased inequality during periods of economic recovery. Fourth, the income share of labor in the non-agricultural sector showed a tendency to decline since Japan’s labor market was characterized by the continued presence of Lewisian surplus labor. The share of land in the total cost of agricultural production fell from the 1910s, while the share of labor remained relatively stable. Fifth, wealth was distributed more unequally than income. The Gini coefficient for rice field ownership ceased to increase in the 1910s when the share of land in the total cost of production began to decline as mentioned above. Finally, the relative poverty rate increased as average income levels rose and income inequality decreased. Based on local income data, the relative poverty rate for the whole country is estimated to have been around 20% in the 1920s and 1930s.

著者

牧野 文夫

出版者

社会経済史学会

雑誌

社會經濟史學 (ISSN:00380113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.6, pp.585-607, 705-704, 1984-03-29

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The diffusion of new technology seems to be one of the most important elements of technological progress, which has played a significant role in the process of Japanese economic development. To examine the rapid growth of the Japanese economy, therefore, it is indispensable to explore conditions for technological diffusion. It has not been necessarily clear, however, how the new technology replaces the old one. To examine this problem, we study the conditions for diffusion of power looms in the Japanese weaving industry, one of the leading industries during the prewar period. In the first section, it is hypothesized that the entrepreneurs choose the technology which has the highest profitability among the alternatives, with the result that a certain technology will come into widespread use. In order to test this hypothesis, the rate of net profit among five types of loom technology are estimated. We then analyse the relationship between changes in relative profitability of the alternative technologies over time and their diffusion, and between the choice of loom technology and the type of business organization. The results obtained are as follows: (1) Generally speaking, at each point in time the loom that had the highest rate of net profit among the alternatives was adopted. (2) The rate of net profit on modern looms was higher in the modern business organization, whereas that on traditional looms was higher in the traditional business organization. In the second section, we test three basic hypotheses that attempt to explain the regional difference in the rate and timing of diffusion of power looms, namely (1) the diffusion of factory system as a modern business organization, (2) the technological adaptation of power looms dictated by the product mix, (3) the availability of electricity as cheap motive energy. It is found that the diffusion of factory system is the most important among three factors. It accounts for a large portion of an increase in the diffusion of power looms over time and its regional differences. The increasing availability of electric power explains mechanization significantly, especially in the earlier periods, while it does not lead to regional differences in mechanization. As for the regional differences in mechanization, a difference in the product mix makes non-negligible influences. In the third section, we examine the development and production of power looms. It is emphasized that rapid increase in power looms was attributable to inexpensive power looms which adapted to the factor endowment at that time. Most of them were produced by a lot of small and medium scale loom-makers in weaving regions. This is indeeed on of the best examples of what is now called "appropriate technology".