Many people believe that it was because of the Korean War that Japan took off after the war. I think this view is wrong.
After Japan's defeat in 1945, the whole country was in ruins. Later, when the Korean War broke out in 1950, because a large number of U.S. military supplies were customized by Japan, Japan's economy got a chance to develop rapidly.
I think Japan's take-off after the war was due to two reasons:
First of all, under the leadership of Mike Arthur, the United States completely transformed the country of Japan from a completely militaristic country to a democratic country politicallyEconomically, two major reforms have been carried out, one of which has been carried outAgrarian reformThey took a large amount of land from the landlords and gave it to the peasants at a low price, so that the entire agricultural production could take the lead in developing.
Second, it is the reform of the chaebol, the chaebol system. This is because in the pre-war period, many of Japan's large corporations were zaibatsu and had monopolies. After the war, MacArthur split these plutocrats, for example, a large chaebol into dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, and did not allow himself and his relatives to occupy major leadership positions in such enterprises. As a result, a large number of technical managers took up management positions in the enterprise, which led to the emergence of a large number of entrepreneurs after the war and brought vitality to the entire economy.
Another aspect that is particularly important is that in 1949, an American banker named Dodge came to Japan and carried out a major reform of the Japanese economy. At that time, the biggest problem of Japan's economy was that inflation in Japan was particularly high after the war, and by about 1949 and 1950, inflation was 100 times higher.
In order to control inflation, various control measures have been introduced, such as restaurants. What the restaurant sells, a specific dish, ** are controlled. Therefore, the Japanese economy at that time was actually a highly regulated economy, and there was no role of market mechanism. Under Dodge's leadership, all the original controls were abolished, and the vitality of the entire free market economy was restored, and the market economy system was rebuilt, allowing the market mechanism to play a real role.
It is precisely because of MacArthur and Dodge's series of reforms that a solid foundation was laid for Japan's post-war economic recovery and take-off. Without this, it would be impossible for Japan's economy to recover, let alone take off. You can say that the Korean War was a war fortune for Japan, but the war only lasted two or three years, and the United States also had a very small part of the war needs, and it was impossible for a country to develop with just a windfall. If there is no good political system and a good market operation mechanism, a windfall will be quickly consumed.
A relatively good political system and a market economic system have been established, laying a solid foundation for Japan's post-war take-off. In addition, the Korean War suddenly brought in a large amount of military supplies, which greatly pushed the Japanese economy forward. Therefore, from 1950 to 1951, the Japanese economy began to recover. Then, in 1955, the Japanese economy began to take off. Since 1955, the average GDP growth rate of the Japanese economy has been above 10%, which is a real take-off.