Entrepreneurs and Markets in Innovation-Driven Industry Growth

日本棉纺工业诞生后，产量从1888年到1900年增加了20多倍，从1900年到1914年增加了2.8倍。1897年出口额超过进口额，到1930年代初期，世界三大纺织公司全部是日本公司。这种惊人的增长是所谓东亚奇迹的根源，其性质和政策影响仍然是人们热烈争论的话题。不仅仅是一个成功采用技术的故事；该行业创造了自己的重要创新。该项目能够分析公司间的生产率差异和现有优势的相对重要性。该项目研究了行业的共同演化、公司治理体系和劳动实践。该项目将为有关政府政策在创新和竞争优势方面的作用的决策提供信息。 该项目利用日本棉纺行业详细、高质量的历史数据来调查单个公司的形成和运作的重要驱动因素。该项目数字化并汇集了各种档案记录，包括详细的运营和财务报告、价格和工资、雇佣劳动力以及所有公司从行业诞生到第一次世界大战结束期间的关键人物（创始人、大股东、高管、高层管理人员和工程师）的信息。传统观点强调政府产业促进的作用及其保护主义作用，但该项目的早期结果表明创新是由私营企业家带头的。新颖的组织形式和竞争性市场促进了通过私人倡议开发的新技术和市场，即资源重新分配。 政府的贡献主要是通过防止根深蒂固的垄断和确保自由进入和公平竞争的条件。

Following its launch, Japan?s cotton spinning industry increased its output more than 20 times from 1888 to 1900, and 2.8 times more from 1900 to 1914. The value of exports exceeded that of imports in 1897, and by the early 1930s the three largest textile firms in the world were all Japanese. This spectacular growth was at the root of the so-called East Asian miracle, the nature and policy implications of which are still subjects of active debate. More than a story of successful technology adoption; the industry created important innovations of its own. The project enables an analysis behind inter-firm productivity differentials and the relative importance of incumbent advantage. The project examines the coevolution of industries, their systems of corporate governance, and labor practices. The project will inform policy decisions concerning the roles of government policies on innovation and competitive advantage. The project uses detailed, high-quality historical data on the Japanese cotton spinning industry to investigate the important driving factors for the formation and functioning of individual companies. The project digitalizes and brings together various archival records, including detailed operational and financial reports, prices and wages, hired labor, and information about key individuals (founders, major shareholders, executives, top managers and engineers) for the universe of all firms, from the time of the industry?s inception until the end of World War I. Conventional wisdom emphasizes the role of government industry promotion and its protectionist role, but the project?s early results indicate that innovation was spearheaded by private entrepreneurs. New technologies and markets developed through private initiative, as resource reallocation, was facilitated by novel organizational forms and competitive markets. Government contributed primarily through preventing entrenched monopolies and ensuring the conditions for free entry and fair competition.