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Neo-Liberal Hybridization of the Japanese Developmental State Have the characteristics of the Japanese state changed since since the collapse of the international economic system of “embedded liberalism” that was constructed at the end of the Second World War ? And, if so, in what respects ? An examination of Japan’s macroeconomic policy and the structure of public finances since the 1980s supplies an answer to these questions. Contrary to what is claimed in much of the extant literature, the Japanese state has clearly undergone significant transformation. Indeed, while the state has taken a lesser role in industrial policy and matters relating to the social domain (both historically significant areas of action in the developmental state model), the overall place of the state has grown, not shrunk, as it now assumes a greater (if less visible) role in preserving the stability of a liberalized, finance-driven market. In Japan, the characteristics of the state have considerably changed in both qualitative and quantitative terms, changes that can be described as a neoliberal hybridization of the developmental state model. ■