An Institutional Economic Approach to understanding the Japanese traditional and religious rituals

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Informal institutions such as religion and culture have a great influence on the shared values of justice as fairness among the economic agents. This research aimed to review some unique features of the Japanese egalitarian society in the context of Rawlsian political philosophy and through the lens of New Institutional Economics. Japan is endowed with the informal institutional settings seeking for a solidarity-driven egalitarian society, which would be advantageous to transit to an intermediate between Rawlsian property-owning democracy and welfare state capitalism. However, the Japanese egalitarianism is different from Rawls egalitarianism associated with the "difference" principle of justice. Rather, the strict egalitarianism stems from the mechanism of envy avoidance, leaving the difference principle underdeveloped.