DP11971 Japan and the Great Divergence, 730-1874

• Stephen Broadberry Jean-Pascal Bassino Kyoji Fukao Bishnupriya Gupta Masanori Takashima
19 Apr 2017

Japanese GDP per capita grew at an annual rate of 0.08 per cent between 730 and 1874, but the growth was episodic, with the increase in per capita income concentrated in two periods, 1450-1600 and after 1721, interspersed with periods of stable per capita income. There is a similarity here with the growth pattern of Britain. The first countries to achieve modern economic growth at opposite ends of Eurasia thus shared the experience of an early end to growth reversals. However, Japan started at a lower level than Britain and grew more slowly until the Meiji Restoration.