ABSTRACT
As noted in the Introduction to this book, the fundamental question which lies at the heart of Political Economy is cui bono? This chapter seeks to address the question as it relates to Japan by mapping the societal implications of the state's gradualist approach to financial globalisation and its financial institutions limited convergence. Part one examines the macroeconomic effects of Japan's particularistic policy responses to financial globalisation in a comparative setting, and goes on to focus upon the macroeconomic costs of nonconvergence. Part two looks at the microeconomic repercussions of gradualism in terms of the distribution of costs accruing from policy-induced macroeconomic distortions for the corporate and household sectors. Finally, Part three investigates the likely societal implications of Big Bang, plotting the programme's likely beneficiaries against the political rhetoric with which it has been promoted.
