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 Japan's industrialized, free-market economy is the
second-largest in the world after the United States. Its economy is highly
efficient and competitive in areas linked to international trade, but
productivity is far lower in areas such as agriculture, distribution, and
services.
After achieving one of the highest economic growth rates in the world from
the 1960s through the 1980s, the Japanese economy slowed dramatically in the
early 1990s, when the "bubble economy" collapsed.
Its reservoir of industrial leadership and technicians, well-educated and
industrious work force, high savings and investment rates, and intensive
promotion of industrial development and foreign trade have produced a mature
industrial economy. Japan has few natural resources, and trade helps it earn
the foreign exchange needed to purchase raw materials for its economy.
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