Causes of Japan's Low Inflation in the 21st Century
Causes of Japan's Low Inflation in the 21st Century

Author: Niklas Humann

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2022-08-18

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 3346697665

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Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1.3, University of Münster, language: English, abstract: The objective of this paper is to not only give an overview of Japan’s Lost Decades and its pioneering use of monetary and fiscal policy measures, but to also investigate why Japan was unable to lift itself out of the deflationary slump. Over the years, the literature has identified a variety of different factors, that have temporarily pushed the Japanese inflation rate into negative territory, but no single explanation was yet able to reveal the permanence of it. This paper will hence follow the literature in considering different factors, grouping them into demand and supply factors, to ease the analysis. An additional focus of this study will be on the Bank of Japan’s pioneering, yet dissatisfying use of monetary policy. Japan’s struggle with (consumper price) deflation began in the aftermath of the asset bubble and subsequent banking crisis in the 1990s. The period since then has become known as the Lost Decades, which are characterized by negative output growth, moderate deflation, as well as rising income inequality. While Japan’s bouts with deflation are interesting from a practical point of view, regarding their negative consequences on the economy and ultimately the people of Japan, they are even more interesting from a theoretical point of view, as part of a discussion and refinement of alternative theories of economic fluctuations.

Japan's Low Inflation Conundrum
Japan's Low Inflation Conundrum

Author: Thomas Mayer

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The paper analyses the reasons for Japan's persistently low inflation since the bursting of the Japanese bubble economy (low inflation conundrum). It is shown that Japan experienced a structural break from a high-growth period with relatively high inflation to a low-growth period with exceptionally low inflation since the early 1990s. We show based on a stylized accounting model, how funds are created in a country open to international capital flows by domestic savings, credit creation of banks and net capital inflows, being absorbed either by rising asset prices, newly issued bonds or more money being held. Government expenditure financed by government bond purchases of commercial banks is shown to be an important channel of money creation in Japan's post-bubble period. With the price level being assumed to be dependent on both goods with free market prices and goods with prices controlled by the government we show that inflation in Japan has been kept low by mainly three factors directly or indirectly influenced by the Bank of Japan: increased money holding of households and corporations, central bank-backed debt-financed price controls and net capital outflows.

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.

Japanese Monetary Policy
Japanese Monetary Policy

Author: Kenneth J. Singleton

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0226760685

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How has the Bank of Japan (BOJ) helped shape Japan's economic growth during the past two decades? This book comprehensively explores the relations between financial market liberalization and BOJ policies and examines the ways in which these policies promoted economic growth in the 1980s. The authors argue that the structure of Japan's financial markets, particularly restrictions on money-market transactions and the key role of commercial banks in financing corporate investments, allowed the BOJ to influence Japan's economic success. The first two chapters provide the most in-depth English-language discussion of the BOJ's operating procedures and policymaker's views about how BOJ actions affect the Japanese business cycle. Chapter three explores the impact of the BOJ's distinctive window guidance policy on corporate investment, while chapter four looks at how monetary policy affects the term structure of interest rates in Japan. The final two chapters examine the overall effect of monetary policy on real aggregate economic activity. This volume will prove invaluable not only to economists interested in the technical operating procedures of the BOJ, but also to those interested in the Japanese economy and in the operation and outcome of monetary reform in general.

Japan’s Lost Decade
Japan’s Lost Decade

Author: Naoyuki Yoshino

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-09-20

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 981105021X

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This book discusses Japan’s long-term economic recession and provides remedies for that recession that are useful for other Asian economies. The book addresses why Japan’s economy has stagnated since the bursting of its economic bubble in the 1990s. Its empirical analysis challenges the beliefs of some economists, such as Paul Krugman, that the Japanese economy is caught in a liquidity trap. This book argues that Japan’s economic stagnation stems from a vertical “investment–saving” (IS) curve rather than a liquidity trap. The impact of fiscal policy has declined drastically, and the Japanese economy faces structural problems rather than a temporary downturn. These structural problems have many causes: an aging demographic (a problem that is frequently overlooked), an over-reliance by local governments on transfers from the central government, and Basel capital requirements that have made Japanese banks reluctant to lend money to start-up businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. This latter issue has discouraged Japanese innovation and technological progress. All these issues are addressed empirically and theoretically, and several remedies for Japan’s long-lasting recession are provided. This volume will be of interest to researchers and policy makers not only in Japan but also the People’s Republic of China, many countries in the eurozone, and the United States, which may face similar challenges in the future.

Inflation in Emerging and Developing Economies
Inflation in Emerging and Developing Economies

Author: Jongrim Ha

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2019-02-24

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 1464813760

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This is the first comprehensive study in the context of EMDEs that covers, in one consistent framework, the evolution and global and domestic drivers of inflation, the role of expectations, exchange rate pass-through and policy implications. In addition, the report analyzes inflation and monetary policy related challenges in LICs. The report documents three major findings: In First, EMDE disinflation over the past four decades was to a significant degree a result of favorable external developments, pointing to the risk of rising EMDE inflation if global inflation were to increase. In particular, the decline in EMDE inflation has been supported by broad-based global disinflation amid rapid international trade and financial integration and the disruption caused by the global financial crisis. While domestic factors continue to be the main drivers of short-term movements in EMDE inflation, the role of global factors has risen by one-half between the 1970s and the 2000s. On average, global shocks, especially oil price swings and global demand shocks have accounted for more than one-quarter of domestic inflation variatio--and more in countries with stronger global linkages and greater reliance on commodity imports. In LICs, global food and energy price shocks accounted for another 12 percent of core inflation variatio--half more than in advanced economies and one-fifth more than in non-LIC EMDEs. Second, inflation expectations continue to be less well-anchored in EMDEs than in advanced economies, although a move to inflation targeting and better fiscal frameworks has helped strengthen monetary policy credibility. Lower monetary policy credibility and exchange rate flexibility have also been associated with higher pass-through of exchange rate shocks into domestic inflation in the event of global shocks, which have accounted for half of EMDE exchange rate variation. Third, in part because of poorly anchored inflation expectations, the transmission of global commodity price shocks to domestic LIC inflation (combined with unintended consequences of other government policies) can have material implications for poverty: the global food price spikes in 2010-11 tipped roughly 8 million people into poverty.

End This Depression Now!
End This Depression Now!

Author: Paul Krugman

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0393088871

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A New York Times best-selling call to arms from Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman. The Great Recession is more than four years old—and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge—all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all—remain in a state of intense pain." How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years—a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now.