First published in 1997. This book is addressed to two kinds of readers: to social theorists,
on the grounds that the Japanese experience is or should be of
particular relevance to their problems, and to scholars working
on Japanese history, culture and society, in the hope that the
theoretical interpretations outlined below may be of some interest
to them.

"Jeffrey D. Sachs is the director of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University. He has served as an economic advisor to several governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Asia, including the Russian Federation, and has published widely on the transition to market economies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, international financial markets, international macroeconomic policy coordination, and macroeconomic policies in developing and developed countries.
Katharina Pistor is a research associate at HIID and a comparative lawyer. Her research and publications focus on comparative law with special emphasis on legal development in transition economies.
"