Latest / The Productivity Podcast with Fexingo: Output, Efficiency, and Long-Term Economic Growth
How Japan Rebuilt Productivity After Its Lost Decade
Japan's 'Lost Decade' of the 1990s is often seen as a cautionary tale—but the country's productivity turnaround that followed is one of the most underreported economic stories of the 21st century. Lucas and Luna drill into how Japan's manufacturing sector, led by firms like Toyota and Fanuc, reengineered production processes and supply chains to post a 40% increase in output per hour between 2000 and 2020, even as the overall economy grew slowly. They examine the role of automation, kaizen (continuous improvement), and corporate restructuring that forced weak firms to…
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