Economic growth and risk - A critical review of the postwar Japanese economy

In this paper, I critically review the history of Japanese economic growth and the depression after World War 2 based on a recognition induced from Arrow's impossibility theorem such that pursuit of economic efficiency inevitably loses elasticity of society against the change of environment. Although any change of environment, especially a decisive one like the Great East Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011, was caused not only by natural phenomena but also by human, economic and social factors, etc., I try to investigate the logical reasoning between an economic structure historically created by economic policies and inevitable social problems caused by them. As a conclusion, the comprehensive economic policy of development of resource-economising technology and export-oriented policy employed just after the war seems to be a decisive cause of present long continuing depression in Japan because the policy was too successful in the economic development of post-war Japan.