Managers' Forum ~ Book Reviews
Troubled Times
Reviewed by: Rodolfo Martinengo
"Troubled Times" by Edward J. Lincoln is a really interesting book,
which describe
in a comprehensive manner the Trade relations between U.S. and Japan
in the
1990s. This book provides the most actual and representative data that
allow
the readers to understand how the relations have been and which has
been the
position of each country.
The title of the book is the most representative way in which the author
pretends
to summarize the real situation happened during the last ten years.
It gives
the reader a general view about how has been qualified the trade relation
between
these two countries.
The book is divided in six chapters, such as:
The first one is an introduction in which the author explained the essence
of
the book and described the contain of each of the following chapters.
The second, called "Evolving Trade Patterns", describes how distinctive
Japan's
evolving merchandise trade patterns are relative to other countries.
This chapter
presents trade and price indicator which show how Japan continued to
be less
accessible on average to foreign firms than is the case for other nations.
The third, called ''The Investment Dimension", analyzes the investment
dimension
of the relationship between U.S. and Japan. This chapter shows how
Japan has
invested more in foreign place, including U. S, than other countries
have done
in there.
The fourth, called "Trade Negotiations the 1990s", describes how and
which have
been the trade negotiations of U.S. with Japan, touching on the Bush
administration
And more extensively on Clinton administration.
The fifth, called "A Changing Japan?", up the issue of the ways
in which Japan
is changing on its own. This chapter describes also how the 1990s brought
unprecedented
problems for Japan and how this spawned an energetic debated about
the need
for deregulation and for broadly reducing government intrusion in the
economy.
The final chapter called "Dealing with Japan", focuses on appropriate
American
policy toward Japan. This chapter offers a variety of suggestions,
beginning
with the need to use the World Trade Organization (WOT) more aggressively.
In spite of the author doesn’t present a concrete conclusion about the
future
Trade Relation between U.S. and Japan that allow the readers foresee
possible
changes and futures situations, this book can be, in my opinion, an
important
source of data and actual information really useful for each person
who is thinking
to invest in Japan, specially to know which have been the trade situations
between
the two countries during the last ten years.
Source:
Lincoln, Edward J, "Troubled Times" U.S. - Japan Trade Relation in
1990s, Brookings
Institution Press, Washington, D.C, USA.
ISBN - 0-8157-5268-7
