Figure 1 presents Japan’s gross national expenditure (GNE) at constant prices during
1930-76. The devastating effects of the Second World War can be vividly seen in the
drastic GNE drop, which then took almost a decade to reach the pre-war level. In other
words, the substantial economic growth in the first postwar decade merely achieved
recovery rather than opening a new frontier of development.
Figure 2 depicts the shares of value added of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors
in net domestic products (NDP) during 1930-76. The share of manufacturing sector
exceeded the 20 per cent level at the beginning of the 1930s, and was boosted even
further after the mid-1930s by the total militarization of the economy. However, the
share of agriculture was still as high as 20 per cent prior to the Second World War, and
jumped in the postwar years, because of the devastation of other sectors, but dropped
gradually during the next decade. The substantial shifting from agriculture to the
manufacturing sector as well as services started from the mid-1950s.