The Medieval Origins of Smithian Growth: The Proliferation of Occupations and Commodities in Japan, 1261–1638

Abstract

Abstract While early-modernists tend to believe that the period around 1600 saw a structural break in Japan’s economic history, research by medievalists since the mid-1970s has suggested that a market economy was on the rise from the 14th century onwards. This article examines several listings of occupations and commodities compiled between the 13th and the early 17th centuries to see if a proliferation of non-agricultural activities was underway before c.1600. As Adam Smith envisaged, the separation of one productive activity from another, i.e. an increasing division of labour, will lead to economic growth. Since this type of market-led change, often called Smithian growth, has been considered an ‘early modern’ phenomenon by economic historians, it is worth examining if there were signs of an increasing division of labour in late medieval Japan. The article’s findings indicate that some signs of occupational and product differentiation appeared by the 16th century. As far as Smithian growth is concerned, therefore, the article concludes that there was some degree of continuity between the medieval and the early modern periods.