ABSTRACT
The institutional analysis of the Japanese economy has recently been the focus of many researchers who are engaged in the study of the economics of institutions. Japanese régulationists have made the most notable contribution to such analysis, emphasising that the mode of régulation of the post-war Japanese economy is that of ‘Company-ism’. The core argument of the ‘Companyism’ hypothesis is that large firms are the centre of the mode of régulation and have strongly promoted social integration in Japanese society. So far, however, only the organisation of large firms has been discussed using this hypothesis.
