Creative Destruction of Industries: Yokohama City in the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923

Tetsuji Okazaki; Toshihiro Okubo; Eric Strobl

doi:10.1017/S0022050718000748

Creative Destruction of Industries: Yokohama City in the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923

Tetsuji Okazaki, Toshihiro Okubo, Eric Strobl

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

593 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Great Kanto Earthquake occurred on 1 September 1923 and inflicted serious damage on Yokohama City. About 90 percent of the factories in Yokohama City were burnt down or completely destroyed. However, these manufacturing industries appear to have swiftly recovered in the aftermath of the damage. This article investigates the role of creative destruction due to the Great Kanto Earthquake. Using firm-level data on capital (horsepower of motors) before and after the earthquake, we find substantial creative destruction, that is, upgrade of machine technology and/or survival of efficient firms. We find further collaborating evidence of this at the prefecture level.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-31
Number of pages	31
Journal	The Journal of Economic History
Volume	79
Issue number	1
Early online date	14 Mar 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050718000748
Publication status	Published - Mar 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History
Economics and Econometrics
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)

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10.1017/S0022050718000748Licence: None: All rights reserved

Strobl_Creative Destruction of Industries_Journal_Economic_History
COPYRIGHT: © The Economic History Association 2019 Okazaki, T., Okubo, T., & Strobl, E. (2019). Creative Destruction of Industries: Yokohama City in the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923. The Journal of Economic History, 79(1), 1-31. doi:10.1017/S0022050718000748
Accepted author manuscript, 492 KBLicence: None: All rights reserved

Cite this

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Creative Destruction of Industries: Yokohama City in the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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