ABSTRACT
"Cultural-educational mobility and development"—suggests that education and mobility are positively related to economic development. Japan, in contrast with England and France, experienced rapid economic growth, especially in the industrial sector, only after 1868. Japan borrowed heavily from abroad in a conscious effort to benefit from the advanced technology and the political institutions of other countries. Japan is among the most industrialized nations of the world. Since the classic study in this field is still Max Weber's famous essay on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism begins with the observation that societies develop differentially and that "capitalism" originated in certain areas of Western Europe. A comparative consideration of that essay and the Japanese development yields a perspective that illuminates "cultural-educational mobility" as a condition of development in both cases.
