Japanese economists could not continue societal activities during the closing years of the Asian and Pacific War (1937-45) and the chaotic period right after Japan lost the war. After this period, Japanese scholars gradually built up the domestic system of scientific research accommodated to the new post-war environment, including the Science Council of Japan (JSC) and the Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (UNEAJ). On the other hand, they also came into contact with a new international organization that was coming to shape international communications in economics, namely the International Economic Association (IEA). UNEAJ especially aimed at systematic communication not only among themselves but also between non-Japanese and Japanese economists. Therefore, UNEAJ tried to keep these economists of the member associations as a whole involved in international communication through the formation of organizations, while each individual economist could join international or foreign academic societies. When we look at the history of Japanese economics since 1945, what was of importance were UNEAJ and the Third Division of the JSC, and IEA.
The Union of National Economic Associations in Japan (UNEAJ) is the nation-wide federation of associations of scholars and experts on economics, commerce, and business administration. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization. The main aims and objectives of UNEAJ are to support the scholarly activities of its member associations and to promote academic exchanges not only among members themselves but also between Japan and academic societies overseas. The secondary aim is to help communications between the Third Division (economics, commerce and business administration) of the Science Council of Japan and the voluntary societies in the same fields.
The Science Council of Japan (JSC) mainly aims to encourage and develop scientific research, and to promote science in government administration, industry and national life. The Third Division of JSC has representatives from the fields of economics, commerce and business administration. The Science Council is a governmental organization. In order to secure its independence of government policies, it is not attached to the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture but to the Prime Minister’s Office. UNEAJ was established by several members of the Third Division (economics and commerce at the time) of JSC on 22 January 1950, exactly a year after the foundation of JSC on 22 January 1949. Therefore, the relationship between the Third Division of JSC and UNEAJ is often expressed as two sides of a coin.
The International Economic Association (IEA) is an international federation of national academic associations or committees representing the economists of each country. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization with purely scientific aims. It has been headquartered in Paris since it was founded in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Science Department of UNESCO and a group of French economists. ‘The general purpose of the IEA is to initiate or coordinate measures of international collaboration designed to assist the advancement of economic knowledge’ (Article 2 of the Statutes). Representing Japan, the Third Division of JSC is now a formal member association of IEA.
An economist has only an indirect relationship with UNEAJ or IEA through individual membership of societies or associations, because UNEAJ is a federation of societies or associations within Japan, and IEA is a federation of societies or associations representing each country. Therefore, economists are not very conscious of their relation to UNEAJ or IEA. Moreover, there is a big difference because JSC is a governmental organization whereas neither UNEAJ nor IEA is. Nonetheless their relations are hard to grasp because they have been evolving in order to fulfill their aims and objectives.