Japanese American economic achievement, 1900-1942

This dissertation examines the economic achievement of Japanese immigrants in the continental United States up to the beginning of World War II. Four principal questions are addressed: (1) What was the economic position of Japanese immigrants prior to World War II?; (2) What impact did selective emigration and immigration have on the economic achievement of Japanese immigrants?; (3) What impact did the selective return migration of Japanese immigrants have on their economic position?; and (4) Did competitive markets overcome the effects of the anti-Japanese Alien Land Laws?; The study is based on U.S. Census publications, annual reports of the Immigration and Naturalization service, and data from a census of Japanese Americans incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II taken by the War Relocation Authority. The data from these sources are analyzed in the historical context of the political and economic developments of Japan, Hawai'i, and the west coast of the United States that shaped the historical experience of Japanese immigrants.; This dissertation finds that claims that Japanese immigrants had achieved a middle class stature prior to World War II are exaggerated, as are claims that competitive markets were able to overcome the discriminatory effects of the anti-Japanese Alien Land Laws (Higgs, 1978). Further, the apparent economic achievement of Japanese immigrants was largely due to the patterns of selective immigration and return migration. The exclusion of Japanese immigrants, the Alien Land Laws, and other anti-Japanese laws restricted the number of Japanese laborers who came to the United States, and discouraged laborers from staying. Rather than a "success story", the economic history of Japanese immigrants before World War II is a story where the more successful immigrants stayed in the United States, while the less successful returned to Japan.