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The Manchurian Economy and the 1930s World Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2007

TIM WRIGHT
TIM WRIGHT
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
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Abstract

This paper analyses Manchuria's economic history between 1929 and 1936, as part of a larger project on the Great Depression's impact on China. Based on a new series for Manchurian GDP, 1924–1937, the paper advances four key arguments. First, early in the Depression, Manchuria's use of silver currency partially protected its economy from the global downturn, while creating serious problems for importers and Japanese-owned enterprises, resulting in a small net decline in GDP. Second, as elsewhere, the Depression's impact was deepest where cyclical effects were accompanied by structural change – here, the decline in the soybean trade. Third, output levels, especially in agriculture, declined most steeply in response to climatic and military disasters rather than economic shocks. Fourth, as in Japan, policies that were Keynesian in effect led to rapid growth of the modern sector, especially construction, and to the recovery of many sectors of Manchuria's economy from 1934–1935.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , September 2007 , pp. 1073 - 1112
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Maki Umemura and Yu Ya for invaluable research assistance in the course of compiling this paper, and Chris Bramall, Beverley Hooper, Ian Phimister and participants at the seminar at Bristol University for useful suggestions. I wish to acknowledge the support of the ESRC (Grant no. 000 22 0876) and the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee (Grant no. 0504270) for the completion of this project.