IN-EAST News
17.05.2016 - 09:06
GRK 1613 Reserach Forum - Prof. Andrea Revelant
The developmental state and inequality: the case of tax policy in modern Japan
Date: Wed., May 18, 2016, 4.15 pm
Venue: IN-EAST, Room LE 736, Campus Duisburg
How to strike a balance between economic growth and equality is one of the major challenges that developing countries face in industrialisation and urbanisation. Taxation can be a powerful tool in the hands of governments seeking to redistribute income or support a particular sector of the economy. Therefore, through the study of tax history it is possible to understand how the balance of power among different social groups has evolved in a given country over time. Scholars have examined the case of Japan with a focus on key turning points, such as the Meiji Restoration or World War II. It is in a long period perspective, however, that continuity and change in policy making better stand out. The talk will address the issue of shifting priorities in tax policy from the 1870s to the 1940s, so as to highlight the process of redefinition of public finance through the modern period, and explain the origins of some features of the postwar fiscal system.