Japanese labor expert dies

Solomon B. Levine, an emeritus faculty member and one of the nation’s foremost experts on Japanese labor relations, died last month at age 86.

Levine’s book “Labor Relations in Postwar Japan” was considered a landmark in the field, influencing a generation of Asian scholars.

Widely respected by scholars, Levine’s work often ran counter to popular beliefs. For example, Japan’s postwar boom was often attributed to an extraordinarily loyal and docile workforce; Levine showed that Japanese workers were as likely to strike as American workers.

And he contended that the supposed cradle-to-grave job security offered by Japanese corporations was a myth — long before the economic decline of the 1990s demonstrated this on a widespread basis.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Harvard and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Levine was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois and began researching Japanese labor relations.

During his academic career, Levine served as director of the Asian Studies Center at the University of Illinois. In 1969, he joined the UW–Madison faculty, where he had appointments in the business school, the Department of Economics and the Industrial Relations Research Institute. He served a number of years as chair of the East Asian Studies program and retired in 1990.

He is survived by his wife, Betty, and four children: Jan Levine Thal, of Madison; Samuel Levine, of Nashville; Michael Levine, of Hollywood; and Elliott Levine, of La Crosse.