Description

In response to a long-term demographic and economic crisis in the agricultural sector, some Japanese agricultural cooperatives are transforming themselves into profitable, market-oriented business enterprises, while others remain stuck in traditional approaches to cooperation. What explains these variations in responses to shifting market forces and what do they tell us about the processes of institutional change and the future of farming in Japan?

Biography

Patricia L. Maclachlan is Professor of Government and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. A student of interest group politics and political-economic reform in Japan, her publications include “Consumer Politics in Postwar Japan: The Institutional Boundaries of Citizen Activism” (Columbia University Press, 2002) and “The People’s Post Office: The History and Politics of the Japanese Postal System, 1871-2010” (Harvard University East Asia Center, 2011). She is also the author, with Kay Shimizu, of “Betting on the Farm: Institutional Change in Japanese Agriculture,” which is forthcoming in March 2022 from Cornell University Press.