Ordinary Economies in Japan: A Historical Perspective, 1750-1950 Volume 18 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780520260382)

Tetsuo Najita explores a powerful theme in the economic thought and practice of ordinary citizens in late Tokugawa and early modern Japan. He examines commoners' writings on the virtues of commerce, the reconstruction of villages, and groups offering credit and loans, particularly the traditional cooperative, the ko, which citizens created to save one another in times of famine and fiscal emergency without turning to their government. The alternative genealogy of early Japanese capitalism that emerges is based on cooperative action, whose motive for profit was combined with a concern for social well-being. Najita's discussion centers on the relationship of economics, ethics, and the epistemological premise that nature must serve as the first principle of all knowledge, and he illuminates comparative issues of poverty, capitalism, and modernity.

Author: Tetsuo Najita
ISBN-10: 0520260384
ISBN-13: 9780520260382
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 09/16/2009
Pages: 298
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.20w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 10/30/2009 pg. 20