Masahiko Aoki papers, 1945-2016

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Summary

Creator:
Aoki, Masahiko, 1938-2015 and Economists' Papers Archive
Abstract:
Masahiko Aoki (1938-2015) was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Stanford University. This collection documents his professional life through his correspondence, writings, and professional activities. It was acquired as part of the Economists' Papers Archive.
Extent:
13.75 Linear Feet (Eight record cartons, one half document box, one flat box, and one custom box.)
1.49 Gigabytes
Language:
Material in English and Japanese, with a significant amount in Japanese.
Collection ID:
RL.13111

Background

Scope and content:

This collection documents Aoki's life and career through his correspondence, writings, professional activities, and personal items. It provides insights into his scholarly contributions to fields such as the comparative institutional analysis, the theory of the firm, corporate governance, and east Asian economies through his unpublished notes, correspondence with fellow economists and publishers, and referee reports on his academic papers.

The largest amount of material highlights Aoki's professional activities, including his teaching, presentations at workshops and conferences, and service to the economics profession. There is correspondence and institutional records that show his role in shaping the development of Stanford's economics department and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Japanese Economic Association, the International Economic Association (IEA), and the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution, among others.

There are also notable items related to Aoki's professional achievements and personal life, including digital photos and photo prints (including one photo album), academic degrees and calendars in Japanese, an extensive set of business cards, handwritten graduate school notebooks, and newsclippings on his accomplishments in Japan, the US, and China.

Biographical / historical:

Masahiko Aoki (1938-2015) was a Japanese economist primarily based at Kyoto University and Stanford University known for his research on organizational forms in economic life and his dedicated service to the economics profession.

Aoki was born on 1 April 1938 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. He earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Tokyo in 1962, where he was deeply immersed in Marxian economics. This time was marked by intense political activism for him, as he emerged as a leading figure of the largest-scale student movement in Japan's history against the US-Japan Security Treaty, which led to his arrest in January 1960 and a period of solitary confinement. As the student movement subsided and he transitioned to graduate studies, he shifted his focus from Marxian economics to what he called "modern" economics. This transition was partly facilitated by his reading of the work of Kenneth Arrow and Leonid Hurwicz, which advanced a proof of the possibility of decentralized economies. Aoki received his master's degree in economics in 1964 from the University of Tokyo and left for the University of Minnesota to do his PhD under Hurwicz and John Chipman.

Aoki's dissertation contributed to the field of the planning process in a decentralized economy, and he graduated in 1967. He held appointsments at Stanford then Harvard University over the next two years before settling at Kyoto University in 1969, where he employed modern economic tools, particularly game theory, to analyze the Japanese economy. He returned to Stanford as a full professor in 1984, where he built on his earlier research on the Japanese economy and, alongside his colleagues, played a pivotal role in establishing the field of comparative institutional analysis. He also made significant contributions to the theory of the firm and corporate governance before retiring with emeritus status in 2005.

Aoki's seminal work on the Japanese corporate model and its contrast with Western systems highlighted the role of information-sharing mechanisms and governance structures in shaping firm performance. He explored how institutional arrangements evolve over time and profoundly shape economic behavior and outcomes, fostering a deeper understanding of diverse governance systems in varying economic and cultural contexts. His scholarly work was recognized by awards such as the Japan Academy Prize in 1990 and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998.

Aoki played an active role in several professional communities. He was the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies from 1987-1997; President of the Japanese Economic Association from 1995-1996; first President of the Japanese Government's Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry from 2001-2004; a co-founder of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance at Tsinghua University in 2005; President of the International Economic Association (IEA) from 2008-2011; the inaugural director of the Japanese Studies Program at Stanford's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center when it was re-established in 2011; and founder of the Virtual Center for Advanced Studies in Institution at the Tokyo Foundation in 2011.

Aoki was married to Reiko Aoki, herself a Japanese economist. He died in Palo Alto, CA on 15 July 2015.

Acquisition information:
The Masahiko Aoki papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library as a gift from Reiko Aoki in 2021.
Processing information:

Processed by Soroush Marouzi, December, 2024.

Electronic records processed by Zachary Tumlin, November 2024.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2021-0099.

Arrangement:

The Masahiko Aoki papers are arranged into four series: Correspondence, Writings, Professional Activites, and Personal.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Access restricted. Some materials in the Professional Activities series contain personnel (tenure) information and are restricted until 2073. Contact Research Services for Access.

Access note. Some materials in this collection are electronic records that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Masahiko Aoki papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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