Japanese rice policy in the interwar period: some consequences of imperial self sufficiency

Abstract

During the interwar period Japan achieved its stated objective of imperial self sufficiency in rice, but it involved the empire’s barriers to imports of foreign rice becoming increasingly protective. A model of the empire’s rice market is used to estimate the production, consumption, trade and welfare effects of that policy. It is shown that the policy was an extraordinarily inefficient means of transferring welfare to producers from consumers/taxpayers. The policy was especially harmful to poor consumers in the colonies of Korea and Taiwan because it raised the price and reduced the availability of less-preferred but potentially much cheaper Indica rice from Southeast Asia. Show more