Consequence of hometown regiment: the Japanese case during the WWII
War sometimes made a huge gender imbalance in certain cohort and in certain areas. While it is a common idea that such gender imbalance may have moved the trajectory of economic development, the controversy is still inconclusive, because the market economy has a strong restoring force. We intend to contribute to this literature by introducing the Japanese experience during the second world war. Japan lost more than 2 million soldiers between 1938 and 1945. Since the Japan Imperial Army organized its main force as "hometown regiment," the loss of young male is concentrated in certain cohort of certain geographical areas. By exploiting the variation of changes in gender balance cohort-by-prefecture, we examined the loss of young male may affect the post-war industrial structure. What we found so far is that the reduction of gender ratio may have led to slower industrialization, though it is only to a limited degree in terms of quantity.
Ryo KAMBAYASHI is professor at the Hitotsubashi University Research Division of Economic Institutions and Policy. In April 2020, Kambayashi Ryo won the Japan Academy Prize for his careful analysis of Japan’s labor market from the pre-war era to the present day and for his novel observations.