Razib Khan

January 13, 2009

Remember the 1980s when America was lectured on how it should emulate Japan Inc.?  Tyler Cowen posts some excerpts from Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan:

…The construction industry here is so powerful that Japanese commentators often describe their country as doken kokka, a “construction state.”…the millions of jobs supported by construction are not jobs created by real growth but “make work,” paid for by government handouts.  These are filled by people who could have been employed in services, software, and other advanced industries.

Things that make you go hhhmmm….