Two of the biggest issues facing nation states in the twenty-first century are the role of government in the management of national economies, and the cultivation of international trade and investment in an age of globalization. In Government, International Trade, and Laissez-Faire Capitalism Carin Holroyd offers a comprehensive comparison of Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand policies and strategies aimed at improving economic relations with Japan, the world's second largest economy. She illustrates negative consequences that result when governments withdraw from trade promotion and leave the development of commercial opportunities to the private sector.

Holroyd focuses on how Australia, Canada, and New Zealand responded to the dramatic changes in the Japanese economy that followed the 1985 Plaza Accord and currency reforms. She examines trade promotional activities, efforts to coordinate business responses to the Japanese market, and the cultivation of Japanese investment, indicating how new paradigms of state involvement in the economy influenced international trading activity. Holroyd demonstrates that rather than responding proactively to changing conditions and new opportunities, the national business sectors stayed with traditional patterns of trade and investment, losing significantly in market share and export opportunities as a consequence.