Japan: From Feudal Isolation to Economic Superpower
The David McWilliams Podcast
David McWilliams
4.6 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week marks 80 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we’re taking a deep dive into Japan’s extraordinary economic story. In part one of our two-part series, we explore how Japan went from a feudal, isolated society to one of the most powerful economies in the world. With our guest Russell Jones, a brilliant economist and my old boss, we look at the Meiji Restoration, post-war reconstruction under America’s wing, and the wild property and stock market bubble of the 1980s. Along the way, we chat about Trump’s war on economic statistics, a touch of Cold War nuclear tension, and even a special Electric Picnic-related announcement!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Mac, just before we start, I was on Amazon looking for a little beach read, you know, |
| 0:06.5 | and lo and behold, look what I see. |
| 0:10.1 | David McWilliams, money, a story of humanity at number one, beating the likes of J.D. Vance |
| 0:17.0 | and his hillbilly elegy and Ezra Klein. |
| 0:20.1 | Dave McWilliams, number one, boom. |
| 0:22.4 | This is the economics version of Top of the Pops. |
| 0:25.5 | You can have a whole lot of love soundtrack in the back. |
| 0:29.0 | But yes, no, you're right. |
| 0:29.9 | It's great to see that money is number one in the Amazon bestsellers in the UK |
| 0:37.3 | under the area of economic history, which is fantastic. |
| 0:42.4 | Again, thank you so much listeners for supporting the book, for buying the book, for buying the |
| 0:47.2 | audiobook. It's really great to see. And it is kind of nice to be number one ahead of the likes |
| 0:53.0 | of J.D. Vance and even Ezra Klein, |
| 0:55.8 | who I respect in New York Times, but who comes with a massive, massive audience. |
| 1:00.1 | So again, thank you very much. |
| 1:02.2 | And if you haven't bought your summer, read if in August you're heading off now to the beach, |
| 1:06.6 | you're thinking, what should I grab? |
| 1:08.6 | What should I read? |
| 1:09.8 | Grab money, a story of humanity. You will not |
| 1:12.8 | be disappointed, and that is from an unbiased reviewer, the fellow who wrote the bloody thing. |
| 1:21.4 | Hey, it's Adam Grant from Worklife, a podcast from TED. This episode is brought to you by FreshWorks. |
| 1:27.8 | Freshworks believes the complexity is the enemy of efficiency, so stop wrestling with bloated |
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