Histoire des entreprises et de la finance

Du 16/02/2022 de 14:00 à 15:30

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SHIZUME Masato (Waseda University)

Financial development in Japan during the pre-modern period (17-19C)

The feudal lords of the Edo Period (1603-1867) were required by law to rotate back and forth between Edo and their home territories every two years, and their families were required to live in Edo permanently. The lords collected taxes mainly in the form of rice and other agricultural commodities and sold substantial portions of those commodities to acquire cash to fund their households and activities in Edo and travels between Edo and home. Merchants in domain territories and Osaka were engaged in trade and finance for and with the domains as well as of their own. Following the opening of the treaty ports in 1859 and Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan instituted a series of drastic reforms. Among other entities, national banks structured as joint stock companies according to the US model played a key role in the modernization of the country by providing the society with liquidity and integrating the national financial markets. Empirical evidence suggests that commoners who engaged in commercial activities in the late Edo to the early Meiji Period played a key role in Japan’s modernization.