Education, Human Capital Investment, and Innovation in the Contemporary Japanese Economy

This book analyzes education in Japan from the viewpoint of “the stagnant current Japanese economy”. Tomoyuki Tamagawa, a long-time mathematics teacher in junior high school, is now a vice principal. He and Tamotsu Nakamura have written Chapter 1 of this book together because they believe that the loss of vitality in the Japanese economy is due to the problem of human capital formation in school education. Shinji Oi has worked for many years at a Japanese broadcasting station and has extensive experience in human resource development. In Chapter 2, he analyzes the relationship between optimal human capital investment and labor market mobility, based on his recognition of the importance of vocational training, or human capital investment at the firm and the necessity for good allocation of human resources. Tokuji Saita is well versed not only in the realities and practices in the financial industry but also in the financial system as a whole. In Chapter 3, based on his long experience in the financial industry, he analyzes and points out the importance of “openness” of innovation from a macroeconomic point of view.