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Abstract

Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 289-316 (2020)

“Interpolation of Japan's Household Consumption during World War II”
Ryoji Koike (Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan)

This paper reconstructs a comparable series of Japan’s household consumption in the 1940s, using historical records about household outlays and black-market transactions, and interpolating missing values in the existing statistics. Real outlay in 1945 is estimated at a little less than 50 percent compared to that in 1940, although statistics are missing for 1945. Even considering alternative estimates using other records, real outlay in 1945 is a little more than 50 percent compared to that in 1940. Thus, it is concluded that Japan’s household consumption in 1945 declined to the level in 1875–1880.

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