高度成長期経済論争における「下村理論」再考 –企業家の理論的位置づけをめぐって–

Abstract

This paper aims to focus on the economic theories of Osamu Shimomura (1910-1989), who played a central role in the economic policy debates of the high-growth era in post-WW2 Japan. First, we will investigate two economic policy debates, “ZAIKO-RONSO(在庫論争)” and “SEICHO-RONSO(成長論争),” from the beginning and on through the development period of the high-growth era in Japan. Focusing on economists’ ideal foundations behind the argument over the statistical data, we find that Shimomura placed great value on entrepreneurs rather than government control. Secondly, we will also investigate why Shimomura, in his economic theory, placed such emphasis on entrepreneurs. In the period immediately following WW2, Shimomura studied Keynes critically and subsequently developed his own economic theory with the unique concept of “effective output,” which builds on Keynesian economic theory. In general, Shimomura’s theory has been accepted as the claim of “output coefficient =1” within the journalistic context of the economic policy debates that he was involved in. However, the essence of his theory is “effective output,” which is the academic foundation of his claim in these debates. Analyzing the mechanism of investment and its return in the production process, Shimomura (1958) focused on the function of entrepreneurs (“replacement investment”). He viewed the whole economic process as a feedback system where entrepreneurs played a role to match demand with supply and regarded them as a device for stabilizing economic fluctuations built into the feedback system. In conclusion, we find that Shimomura’s claim in the economic policy debates, the importance of entrepreneurs in free enterprise against control and intervention by the government, has an academic foundation in his theory of economic fluctuations focusing to its feedback mechanism.