A Study of the Environmental Foundations of Economic Development in Postwar Asia: With Special Reference to Resource and Energy Trade

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24330109
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic history
• Research Institution: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (2013-2014); The University of Tokyo (2012)
• Principal Investigator: SUGIHARA Kaoru 政策研究大学院大学, 政策研究科, 教授 (60117950)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUBO Toru 信州大学, 人文学部, 教授 (10143520) ; OKAZAKI Tetsuji 東京大学, 経済学研究科(研究院), 教授 (90183029) ; KAGOTANI Naoto 京都大学, 地球環境学堂, 教授 (70185734) ; ISHIKAWA Noboru 京都大学, 東南アジア研究所, 教授 (50273503) ; KOBORI Satoru 名古屋大学, 経済学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (90456583)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 環境経済史 / エネルギー / アジア / 貿易 / 発展径路

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study attempted a historical investigation into the question of how resource and energy had been secured during the high-speed economic growth in Asian countries in the postwar period, and its impact on global environmental sustainability. We found that the demand for fossil fuels and other resources from growth Asia were mainly responsible for the growth of the fossil-fuel-based world economy. We also identified that the principle of free trade and ‘developmentalism’ contributed to Asia’s high-speed growth. At the same time, while both imports of fossil fuels and food and the industrial competitiveness through the development of energy-saving technology were essential to Asia’s growth and urbanization, they also caused the scarcity of other essential resources, such as water and biomass energy, which are relatively difficult to trade. This study identified these key issues and produced some case studies.

Free Research Field

経済史