Financial politics in contemporary Japan /

Rosenbluth (government and foreign affairs, University of Virginia) conducted much of the research on this volume while assistant director of the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University. Her book is a case study of the bureaucratic parameters of regulation in Japan. She illustrates the interaction between the regulator (the Ministry of Finance) and the regulated (the banks, the securities firms, and the postal savings system), with foreign governmental and market pressures in the wings. The international context of domestic financial politics is properly stressed. The author's thesis is that the government does not control or direct the private sector but rather negotiates with it. The private sector, if dissatisfied and politically strong, has recourse through the political process; regulators desire to minimize the incidence of such appeals. The result is governance by negotiation, described in three case studies. Rosenbluth uses ample Japanese sources in addition to those in English in presenting the minutiae of the controversies and power plays in Japanese finance. Historical background is also provided. The author is knowledgeable and incisive. The book is less institutionally descriptive than The Japanese Financial System ed. by Yoshio Suzuki (CH, Dec '88). James Horne, Japan's Financial Markets (1985) has a similar context and conclusions but is broader and focuses more on the securities markets in recent times. Recommended for graduate and research collections in finance. -B. Mieczkowski, Ithaca College