Structural Change and Transformation of Growth Regime in the Japanese Economy

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationship between structural change and economic growth in Japan during the past 40 years. While using the growth in real value added and labour productivity as measurement of economic growth, we consider the structural change in value added as the structural change in output and that in capital and labour as the structural change in inputs. Specifically, we use the Japan Industrial Productivity database 2014 compiled by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and show (1) the pace of structural change in inputs and output, (2) the evolution of sectoral dispersion of economic growth, (3) the changing distribution of sectoral contribution to aggregate economic growth, and (4) empirical evidence of the relationship between structural change and economic growth. Our main conclusion is that the Japanese growth regime has transformed from a heterogeneity decreased regime with overall growth process to a heterogeneity increased one with uneven growth process since the 1990s; the impact that structural change in output had on economic growth was positive, although its magnitude has weakened since then.