RE: [Leica] The Japanese Economy

["Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>]

Nathan,

You sound like a professor and someone who has only received the teachings
of the standard propaganda heard in Colleges and Universities.  I have a
good deal of experience in business dealings with Asia, especially Japan.
It is not whining by American businesses, but in fact is a government
control/restrictions imposed on businesses.  For example, there are 3 LD
carriers in Japan, but the gov't only let's each undercut the main (NTT) by
a percetage and no more.  There is no negotiating with Japanese businesses
for MNC sites as there is in other parts of Asia.
So please, let me tell you first hand, wherever you are garnering your
experience from is not a very good source.

Peter K

- -----Original Message-----
From: Nathan Wajsman [mailto:nathan.wajsman@euronet.be]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 12:21 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] The Japanese Economy


The issue of Japanese protectionism is indeed very complex and often
misunderstood, as many recent posts on the LUG demonstrate. Academic studies
that have been done on the subject in the 80s showed little significant
difference between the U.S. and Japan in terms of openness to imports. The
two
countries simply protect different industries; in the U.S. relatively
obscure
industries like sugar and textiles are protected, while in Japan it was/is
highly visible ones like cars. But when you look at the OVERALL degree of
protection, the difference is much smaller than commonly thought. In the
U.S.
there is a common perception to the contrary, spurred on by whining American
business leaders who failed in Japan and attributed their failure to
Japanese
protectionism. You do not hear many complaints from successful companies
like
Coca Cola or McDonalds.

The real difference is between small countries and big countries. As
predicted
by classical trade theory, small countries tend to favor free trade
(examples:
Denmark, Netherlands) while big ones will seek to exploit their size and
hence
market power by restricting trade in selected commodities (examples: Japan,
U.S.). Note that I am speaking of normal, capitalist economies here; of
course
you have countries affected by idiotic ideologies (e.g. China, India, most
of
the third world until recently) who have traditionally favored autarky for
non-economic reasons.

Nathan

- --
Nathan Wajsman
Overijse, Belgium

General photo site: http://belgiangator.tripod.com/
Belgium photo site: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman/
Motorcycle site: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1704/