> As for the term, 'heavily managed economies', do you mean they have too many
> managers? Or do you mean the national government plays a heavy role in
> managing the national economy?
The latter. What makes Japan's developmental state interesting is that it's been very good at supporting small to mid-size firms, especially local companies which didn't have the advantages of keiretsu affiliations, through all sorts of loan programs, R & D subsidies, regional banks, etc.; the US model is overreliant on fickle capital markets, and channels too much of its R&D into the military. David Friedman's "Misunderstood Miracle" has an excellent write-up of all this. Only the energy-core of Starship Europa (launch date: T minus 76 days, 4 hours, 10 minutes) seems to have developed an equivalent density of infrastructures.
-- Dennis