The 11 chapters composing this volume are mainly papers first presented at the meeting of the European Association for Japanese Studies at Warsaw in 2003, along with an introduction by the editors. This volume in Routledge's Contemporary Japan Series, not intended to be a comprehensive economic history of Japan, adds to our knowledge of that nation's development by illuminating selective topics. The focus is on Japan after World War II, with six of the ten substantive essays dealing with that time period. Inspired by the work of Douglass C. North, all of the contributors examine how institutions (and people in institutions) have affected Japan's economic development. Some see the roles as being positive, but others view them as more negative—as, in fact, introducing rigidities into Japan's economy. Some, though far from all, examine technological issues. Many of the chapters place Japan's experiences in an international perspective.

Business and economic historians interested in manufacturing will find the essays on copper mining, brewing beer, and making cotton textiles to be of most value. Patricia Sipple provides a careful description and analysis of changes taking place in Japan's copper mining and smelting industry during the Tokugawa and Meiji periods. She finds that “although Western technology transformed mining in the second half of the nineteenth century, knowledge and practices developed before and during the modern era were also important” (p. 13). She emphasizes “the roles of actors at the political and economic center,” especially of government employees, and mining engineers (p. 13). Adopting the approach of Alfred D. Chandler Jr., Harald Fuess explores the development of large, heavily capitalized beer makers from the 1880s into the late 1930s. A mix of consumer tastes, changing technologies, and financial requirements, he shows, led to the rise of big businesses in brewing. Helen Macnaughtan tells how cotton textile companies tried to deal with their women workers in new situations they faced between 1945 and 1975, circumstances shaped in part by American ideas about labor relations (mediated, however, by continuing Japanese practices) and in part by growing labor shortages, especially of young women.

Moving beyond industry, a number of essays focus more broadly on the changing nature of the firm and interfirm relations in recent decades. Andre Moerke chronicles the erosion, but continuance, of keiretsu under the impact of both domestic and global economic changes, concluding “It seems that keiretsu are here to stay—weakened, but existing” (p. 88). Sigrun Caspary examines mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies with foreign firms, looking especially at the major increase in their numbers from the mid-1990s onward. After presenting a valuable statistical overview, he investigates in detail the development of Renault's alliance with Nissan in 1999 (following failed Nissan-DaimlerChrysler negotiations) and DaimlerChrysler's alliance with Mitsubishi Motors a year later. Caspary then examines the reorganization of the firms and their marketing methods.

Several chapters will be of most value to scholars interested in financial history and Japan's economic troubles in the 1990s. In a lengthy piece, Takaaki Suzuki argues persuasively that globalization has not eliminated the roles states play in economic matters. Looking specifically at global financial issues, he shows that “the Japanese state actively intervenes in the economy despite, and to some extent because of, the rise of global finance” (p. 92). Mariusz K. Krawczyk offers a cogent explanation of Japan's banking crisis and financial downturn in the 1990s. While examining the impacts of recent events such as the reevaluation of the yen in 1985/86 and mistakes made by the Ministry of Finance in the 1980s and early 1990s, he also looks, to his credit, at the importance of long-term structural problems as the main cause for the difficulties, concluding that “Japan's banking crisis was not caused by a single regulatory or macroeconomic factor but has its origins in a set of deficiencies deeply rooted in the country's post-war institutional and corporate culture” (p. 121).

Institutional and Technological Change is a rich volume, well worth selective reading. Beyond the essays just described, other chapters examine the early history of economic thought, modern environmental controversies, and the changing nature of forecasting in Japan. Historians dealing with a wide range of issues will find parts of this collection valuable.