Please briefly describe the reasons for the rapid economic development of Japan and West Germany after World War II.

Located in East Asia, Japan is a long and narrow island country, with extremely poor natural resources such as oil and coal, and relatively more natural disasters such as earthquakes. The war of aggression launched by Japanese fascists not only brought great trauma to Asian countries and nations, but "the imperialist war also caused profound disasters to Japanese countries and nations." World War II made Japan lose all the wealth accumulated before the war, and the postwar economy was on the verge of collapse. Regarding the loss of state property, "According to the investigation by the Post-War Rehabilitation Institute, there were 1 19 cities damaged by air strikes, 2.4 million houses were burned, 8.8 million people were affected, and the direct property loss reached 64.39 billion yen." Japan's post-war industrial output value is only 20% of pre-war 1937. Inflation is serious, food is scarce, production almost stops, and the shadow of failure hangs over most people's hearts.

However, just above the ruins, Japan seized the opportunity of the world economic center of gravity shifting to the Pacific Ocean, set off the climax of industrialization under the background of "Cold War" and combined with Japan's national conditions, and created a miracle of world economic development. "195 1, Japan's economy recovered to the pre-war level (referring to the average level of 1934- 1936)." On this basis, "comprehensive recovery was achieved through 1955." The export volume of commodities has increased greatly, and the balance of payments has also tended to be balanced. Ultra-high-speed economic growth has greatly expanded Japan's economic scale, and its gross national product has surpassed that of India and Canada. By 1965, the gross national product was 8.8 billion US dollars, ranking fifth after the United States, West Germany, Britain and France. Since then, it has passed through all the way, surpassing France/KOOC-0/966, Britain/KOOC-0/967, and West Germany/KOOC-0/968 (Japan/KOOC-0/4/KOOC-0/900 million US dollars, and West Germany/KOOC-0/32.2 billion US dollars), becoming second only to. The inducement of Japan's rapid economic development after the war is composed of many aspects, both subjective and objective.

Objectively speaking, there was an environment conducive to Japan's economic development at home and abroad at that time. First of all, the democratic reform in the early postwar period is the basic prerequisite for economic revitalization. The purpose of this reform is to "encourage the Japanese people to cultivate their desire for personal freedom and respect Japanese human rights, especially freedom of religion, assembly, speech and publication." And encourage representative organizations established by the Japanese people. "Democratic reform involves amending the constitution, agricultural land reform, dissolving chaebol and carrying out labor reform, which is of great significance to Japan's modernization process. Secondly, after the war, Japan used international raw materials and low fuel prices, especially before the "1973 oil crisis", and used international cheap oil energy to develop its economy. "In addition, the high price of industrial products at that time was extremely beneficial to resource-poor Japan. Third, the economic support and military expenditure of the United States have fallen sharply. Out of the global strategic needs of the "Cold War", the United States strongly supported Japan economically. With the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union and the establishment of the new China, the United States brought Japan into the strategic plan of the Far East, making Japan a base for the United States to dominate Asia and a fortress against the Soviet Union. According to statistics, "from 1946 to the end of June 1950, the cumulative amount of various American aid and loans to Japan reached $3 billion. "Under the protection of the United States, Japan has no heavy military burden." In 1944, Japan's military expenditure accounted for 98.9% of the gross national product, and in 1977, it fell to 0.88%, the lowest among the capitalist powers. "The sharp drop in military spending has provided sufficient funds for Japan's economic development. Fourth, American military orders stimulated the development of Japanese economy. After the Korean War broke out, Japan immediately became the military station and military supply base of the US military. A large number of military orders make the Japanese economy in a depressed state play a role, bring it back to life like a panacea, and bring the Japanese economy out of the trough. According to statistics, "from the outbreak of the war to the signing of the armistice agreement in July 1953, the' special needs' totaled 2.4 billion US dollars, and reached 3.6 billion US dollars in July 1955. "In the 1960s, Japan made a fortune in the war," because the Vietnam War won $4 billion in military orders. "... The Korean War and the Vietnam War were turning points in postwar Japanese history. Fifth, the rise and development of the third technological revolution greatly promoted Japan's economic leap. By the end of 1960s, Japan had eliminated 30% of the traditional industries, and new technologies and industries promoted the development of the whole national economy, making Japan the fastest developing country in the capitalist world.

Subjectively speaking, the inducement of Japan's economic development after the war is inseparable from the economic development strategy formulated by the Japanese government and a series of successful economic policies adopted.

First, strengthen Keynesian theory and develop state monopoly capitalism. After the war, the Japanese government carried out Keynesian theory, made use of the power of state power, strengthened the intervention, guidance and control of economic life, and developed state monopoly capitalism. 1, strengthen the planning of capitalist economy. In the early postwar period, the Japanese government formulated many economic plans, such as "1948- 1949", and twice formulated the "five-year plan for economic recovery". 195 1 year drew up the' three-year plan for independent economy'. "Further promote economic development. In the middle of the postwar period, at the end of 1955, Hatoyama Cabinet formulated the Five-year Plan for Economic Self-reliance (1956-1960); 1957 65438+February, the Cabinet of Kishi Nobusuke formulated a new long-term economic plan (1958-1962); 1960 "national income multiplication plan" formulated during Ikeda's cabinet period and so on. Through these plans, some blind factors in capital competition have been avoided, and Japan's economy has a foundation for sustainable development. 2. Develop state-owned enterprises. By 1965, state-owned enterprises will account for 15.5% of Japan's total fixed assets. The development of state monopoly capitalism makes up for some defects of private monopoly capitalism and promotes the high prosperity of Japanese economy.

Second, take various measures to promote the improvement of labor productivity and increase the total capital. 1. Vigorously develop education and attach importance to cultivating talents. Japan reformed its education in 1947 and changed it to nine-year compulsory education. "Nine-year compulsory education was fully popularized in 1950, and the enrollment rate reached 99%; From 65438 to 0965, the enrollment rate of junior high school increased to 69.6%; 1970, the rate of graduating from high school to university reached 23.6%. " The government has also increased investment in education. "The education expenditure in 1950 was159.9 billion yen, and it increased to 4,024.4 billion yen in 1972, accounting for 20% of the budget of that year." Attaching great importance to educational achievements, it has provided a sufficient number of outstanding laborers and scientific and technological talents for economic modernization and has become a talent resource for Japan's rapid economic development. 2. Introduce a large number of foreign advanced technologies. The number of advanced technologies imported by Japan from abroad in 1950s: "446 items in 1950- 1954, 577 items in 1955- 1959,1960-1969. It can be seen that Japan has introduced advanced foreign technology very quickly. By 1979, Japan had systematically and massively introduced 3 1000 world advanced technologies, half of which came from the United States. The introduction is mainly through the purchase of technical patents and drawings, and then combined with domestic characteristics to improve. As a result, Japanese industry concentrated the long-term development achievements of other countries in a short time, saving huge amounts of money. "According to statistics, in 1945- 1970, Japan only spent $6 billion to get the technology developed by foreign countries18 billion." At that time, the Japanese had a slogan: "1 machine was introduced, machine 2 was made in China, and machine 3 was exported." 3. Make full use of the positive factors of traditional culture and unique enterprise management system. The excellent traditions of Japanese traditional culture, such as collectivism, education, harmony, discipline, frugality and hard work, are conducive to enhancing employees' sense of honor for enterprises, forming their loyalty to enterprises in the same boat, and are of positive significance to the high development of Japanese economy. The enterprise management system has realized expert personnel, scientific methods, technical automation and institutional efficiency. These unique management systems play a vital role in improving labor efficiency.

Incentives for Japan's Economic Development after World War II (2)

Third, actively implement the policy of high investment and expand the scale of investment. After the war, Japan quickly set off an investment boom. "According to the estimation of the Ministry of Economic Planning, the equipment investment of Japanese enterprises in 1956 will increase by 7.8% over the previous year, but it actually increased by 57.6%." During the period of 1955- 1970, Japan's investment in fixed assets increased by more than 1 15 times. "The ratio of Japanese government investment to government expenditure is 35% in 1960, 47% in 1965 and 52% in 1970. According to the statistics of 1977, Japanese government investment accounts for 5.6% of the gross national product, equivalent to 1.4 times that of the United States, and higher than the sum of the investments of Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy in the same year. " Fixed capital investment focuses on basic industries such as electricity, steel and machinery, and emerging industries such as electronics, chemistry and automobiles. Large-scale investment not only enabled Japan to quickly establish an industrial system with steel as the core and a series of emerging industrial sectors, but also greatly accelerated the renewal of fixed capital of various departments and improved the technical equipment and modernization level of enterprises.

Fourth, vigorously develop foreign trade. Japan has made use of the excellent ports in the Pacific Ocean to vigorously develop the export-oriented economy, and its foreign trade has grown rapidly, which has brought huge profits to Japan. In the second half of 1960s, Japan's export growth rate exceeded the production growth rate. Trade black word 1968 25 billion dollars, 1970 reached 4 billion dollars. "Japan will reinvest some of these huge profits in the production field and continue to promote Japan's economic growth. At the same time, foreign exchange reserves increased rapidly. According to statistics, "1970 was $2.005 billion (ranked tenth in the world), and 1972 increased to1836.5 billion (ranked second in the world). "These huge foreign exchange reserves have enhanced Japan's economic strength.

5. The long-term ruling of the Liberal Democratic Party has made the social and economic development relatively stable. 1955165438+1October15th, the Liberal Party of Japan and the Democratic Party merged to form the Liberal Party (LDP). The essence of the "1955" system is that it is actually a conservative one-party ruling system of the Liberal Democratic Party. Since then, Japan has begun a long history of ruling by the Liberal Democratic Party. "Judging from the ruling practice in the 1950s and 1960s, the internal and external policies of successive governments are in the same strain. On the economic front, the LDP government has extensively intervened in economic life, made plans, devoted itself to the cultivation and development of new industries, increased capital investment and adopted special measures to promote capital accumulation. Politically and socially, the government has formulated and promulgated a series of decrees aimed at achieving stability and strengthening control over the people; In the foreign policy of the LDP, successive governments have tried their best to follow the United States.

To sum up, on the ruins of World War II, the Japanese government and people built a country full of holes, devastation and nuclear fear into a modern industrial power in just 20 or 30 years. As for the inducement of its development, there are both objective reasons of the international environment after World War II and subjective reasons of Japan itself, and these two reasons work together. The rapid development of Japan's economy has had a great impact on Asia and even the whole world.