Understanding the Costs of Deflation in the Japanese Context
Understanding the Costs of Deflation in the Japanese Context

Author: Mr.Taimur Baig

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2003-11-01

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 1451875061

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This paper examines the cost of deflation in the context of Japan's ongoing deflationary episode. The impact of deflation owing to the zero interest rate bound on monetary policy, wage rigidity, redistribution of wealth from debtor to creditor, and inflexibilities in the financial sector are examined. It is seen that the generalized decline in the Japanese price level, however gradual or mild, has substantially exacerbated the economy's adjustment process under already difficult economic conditions.

The Japanese Economy, second edition
The Japanese Economy, second edition

Author: Takatoshi Ito

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-01-28

Total Pages: 617

ISBN-13: 0262538245

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The second edition of a comprehensive account of all the major aspects of the Japanese economy, substantially updated and expanded. This textbook offers a comprehensive, rigorous but accessible account of all the major aspects of the Japanese economy, grounding its approach in mainstream economics. The second edition has been extensively revised and substantially updated, with new material that covers Japan's period of economic stagnation between 1991 and 2010. The first edition, published in 1992, focused on Japan as a success story of catch-up economic development; this edition reflects the lessons learned from Japan's Lost Two Decades. After presenting the historical background, the book begins with macroeconomics, studying growth and business cycles. It then covers essential policy issues, with new material that takes into account the Japanese banking crisis of 1997–1998 and the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, discussing financial regulation, monetary policy, and fiscal policy. It goes on to examine saving, demography, and social security in light of Japan's ongoing demographic transition; industrial organization; labor markets; international trade and international finance; and the Japan–U.S. relationship. A new chapter offers a detailed analysis of the Lost Two Decades, synthesizing and applying concepts discussed in previous chapters and offering insights into such issues as successful catch-up growth, demographic shifts, and credit booms and busts.

Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim
Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim

Author: Takatoshi Ito

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-11-01

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 0226379019

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Extremely low inflation rates have moved to the forefront of monetary policy discussions. In Asia, a number of countries—most prominently Japan, but also Taiwan and China—have actually experienced deflation over the last fifteen years. Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim explores the factors that have contributed to these circumstances and forecasts some of the potential challenges faced by these nations, as well as some potential solutions. The editors of this volume attribute low inflation and deflation in the region to a number of recent phenomena. Some of these episodes, they argue, may be linked to rapid growth on the supply side of economies. Here, inadequate demand policy can produce what is referred to as a "liquidity trap" in which the expectation of falling prices encourages agents to defer costly purchases, thereby discouraging growth. Low inflation rates can also be traced to the presence of a "zero-lower bound" on interest rates, as well as the inflation-targeting phenomenon. Targets have been set so low, the editors argue, that in some cases a few bad shocks lead to deflation.

Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization
Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization

Author: Ole Roste

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1351504878

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As a fundamental review and critique of activist economic policies, this book is a unique contribution to classical political economy. "Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization" is about macroeconomic stabilization policy, with emphasis on the value of a distinct national monetary policy to growth. Ole Bjorn Roste's argument is for public officials to restrain themselves in the pursuit of policy. As the author notes: when you know less, you should do less.The history of modern macroeconomics started in 1936 with the publication of Keynes' "General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money". The problems of the Great depression of the 1930s paved the way for a change of focus, from the long run to economic fluctuations in the short run, and from nominal to real variables, such as unemployment and aggregate output.Keynes offered clear policy implications in tune with the times. Because economic adjustment was slow, waiting for the economy to recover by itself was irresponsible. Particularly fiscal policy was essential to return to high employment. Monetary policy could affect aggregate demand through Interest rates, but was less important. Roste discusses the role of monetary policy, starting out with the implications of the theory of optimum currency areas (OCAs). This is followed by estimates of the output loss associated with disinflation policy (the sacrifice ratio) for six OECD economies. Further, Roste models the dynamic adjustment to negative, local labor-market shocks, with particular relevance to Scandinavia, in a final section.The idea that governments should pursue stabilizing fiscal or monetary policies with regard to real variables is often taken for granted by the public, if not by economists. Among the reasons for skepticism, is the presence of differing views on how economies really work, that the state of a given economy becomes known only after a time lag, and that economic agents react to policy and expectations of policy. For these reasons, the effects of policy are generally uncertain. This book explains why the role of history is critical to the study of macroeconomics.p>

Structural Reform and Macroeconomic Policy
Structural Reform and Macroeconomic Policy

Author: R. Solow

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2004-06-29

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 0230524443

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The relation between structural reform and macroeconomic policy underlies the widespread perception that the large European economies have under-performed in the past decade in comparison both with their own standards and with the contemporaneous performance of the United States. This book, edited and introduced by Noel Laureate Robert M. Solow, provides analyses of how these economies could take a co-ordinated and simultaneous approach to reform in labour and product markets and the demand side.

Two Decades of Japanese Monetary Policy and the Deflation Problem
Two Decades of Japanese Monetary Policy and the Deflation Problem

Author: Takatoshi Itō

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13:

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"This paper reviews Japanese monetary policy over the last two decades with an emphasis on the experience of deflation from the mid-1990s. The paper is quite critical of the conduct of monetary policy, particularly from 1998 to 2003. The Bank of Japan's rhetoric was not helpful in fighting deflation, and the interest rate hike in August 2000 amid deflation was a serious mistake. Deflation can be quite costly, and a key element in both preventing and escaping deflation is the management of expectations, using either price level or inflation targeting, because the zero lower bound on interest rates means that the overnight interest rate can no longer be used as the instrument of monetary policy. This paper proposes how to best manage expectations to exit deflation. Price-level targeting overcomes theoretical problems, such as need for a history dependent strategy, associated with inflation targeting. However, because actions speak louder than words, management of expectations also involves non-conventional monetary policies, a combination of which might have to be tried to help the Japanese economy escape its deflationary trap"--NBER website