During its long "lost decade," Japan became painfully acquainted with the concept of pushing on a string.In monetary policy, pushing on a string is when a central bank finds itself unable to reverse an economic downturn with customary monetary policy tools; famously, the Bank of Japan slashed nominal interest rates to zero without success in …
Tag: Japanese economy
Aso seals the deal, and the LDP pats itself on the back
The campaign to replace Fukuda Yasuo as LDP president and prime minister officially began on Wednesday, with the five candidates — Aso Taro, Koike Yuriko, Yosano Kaoru, Ishihara Nobuteru, and Ishiba Shigeru — holding a joint press conference before traveling the country to campaign.The press conference makes clear just how farcical claims of the LDP's …
Continue reading Aso seals the deal, and the LDP pats itself on the back
Fukuda, the LDP, and Japan: all hamstrung
Fukuda Yasuo has returned from his vacation at the Prince Park Tower hotel near Shiba Park in Tokyo.His agenda is no less crowded than it was last week.In the final week of the month, Mr. Fukuda, his government, and his party will be considering the new budgetary guidelines, deliberating on when to start the autumn …
Nakagawa’s economic policy
As noted in this post, Tahara Soichiro thinks that Nakagawa Shoichi, instigator of the "True Conservative Policy Research Group," would make a fine leader in place of the current crop of party leaders and would be adept at addressing the many pressing issues facing the government.What, you wonder, does Mr. Nakagawa think about economic policy?Mr. …
Japan on the brink
The Diet returned to business yesterday after a two-day recess, with Prime Minister Fukuda and members of his cabinet delivering speeches outlining the government's basic policies for the 2008 regular session.Prime Minister Fukuda — despite his decline in popularity, which he has said "can't be helped" — gave another excellent speech, his second in two …
Does Abe have nothing to worry about come July?
From the English-language blogosphere's resident Abe apologist comes another post arguing that all is well in Abe's beautiful Japan.Hey, Ampontan, do you do this pro bono, or is there some kind of secret yarase blogger program run out of the Kantei? If the latter, is it too late to sign up?I think, if the price …
Continue reading Does Abe have nothing to worry about come July?
Japan’s revenge
Over at Project Syndicate, Thomas Palley outlines the argument about how the yen carry trade is fuelling global asset bubbles — although Finance Minister Omi denies that Japan's low interest rates are the cause of the carry trade.Aside from rehearsing the standard arguments about how Japan's barely-over-zero interest rates contributes to global instability and the …
Postponing structural reform
Following on the heels of an announcement last week of a plan to amend Japan's rules separating banks and brokerages, the Abe Cabinet has announced, in connection with its Asia Gateway Initiative, that Japan will revise its customs rules and standards to better comply with international standards and make Japan more competitive regionally and globally.Both …
Japan’s own Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The Abe Cabinet, in the interest of promoting a more globalized and more competitive Japanese economy, has announced that it will seek to repeal Japan's equivalent to the US New Deal-era Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed in the US in 1999 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. (The FT's coverage can be read here.)The …
Japan’s governance problem
John Plender, columnist in the FT, has a column (subscription only) in Wednesday's edition talking about the "accountability gap" in Japanese corporate governance.He wrote:...There is a corporate governance vacuum. Before the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, the postwar model of capitalism known as “Japan Inc” incorporated governance disciplines based on a main bank …
Tobias S. Harris 