Dear List members,

Congratulations to Gabriele Vogt for this minute analysis of one of the few sectors with significant labor migration in Japan!

In a recent piece for the Japanese edition of Harvard Business review (www.dhbr.net/articles/-/4886) I have briefly analyzed the negative impact on GDP growth resulting from the unfortunate coincidence of demographic change and the government's hesitation to make more immigration happen. In short, 90% of the differential in GDP growth between Japan and the US that can be observed since the early 1990s is due to a decline in labor input growth (and not - as frequently suggested - a consequence of poor productivity growth).

Against that background the concrete and detailed case study of Gabriele Vogt will prove an important reference as to how (and potentially as to how not) design policies to foster labor migration and integration in the Japanese context.

Very much looking forward to receiving her volume in our library!

Kind regards,
Georg

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Georg D. Blind, PhD (Econ)
Research Associate and Lecturer

University of Zurich
Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies
Zurichbergstr. 4
8032 Zurich, Switzerland