CIRJE-F-277 | "Capital Accumulation and the Local Economy: Brewers and Local Notables" |
Author Name | Tanimoto, Masayuki |
Date | May 2004 |
Full Paper | PDF file@ |
Remarks | Revised version subsequently published in Tanimoto, Masayuki eds., The Role of Tradition in Japan's Industrialization, Oxford University Press. |
Abstract |
This essay focuses on the holders of accumulated capital in the brewing industry to examine the characteristics of the capital accumulation process and the connection between accumulated capital and the start of Japan's industrialisation in Meiji period. The characteristic feature of brewing as a so-called "traditional industry" was that individual entrepreneurs accumulated a relatively large amount of capital and labour. The multi-layered structure of the brewing industry, with large-sized brewers selling to urban markets and small and medium-sized producers supplying areas outside the cities, resulted in this feature and formed a necessary condition for the investment activities of brewers. |