This volume analyzes how the Japanese civil service has contributed to Japan's phenomenally successful economic growth, and provides much new information about its structure, function, and policymaking activities. It emphasizes the degree of competitiveness within the Japanese bureaucracy; the extent to which political authority, rather than formal power, is wielded; and the way in which government policy has stimulated market forces. Written by experts in the field, this work will be invaluable to economists and policymakers interested in the Japanese system and in models for developing and transitional economies.