From American master Ward Just, returning to his trademark territory of "Forgetfulness "and "The Weather in Berlin," an evocative portrait of diplomacy and desire set against the backdrop of America's first lost war
Against the current historical context that, the United States is in the process of forging and implementing a grand Indo-Pacific strategy, and that the U.S. has shown its intention to align its strategies toward other regions of the world with its strategic interest in Asia together, this study aims to explore and analyse the critical factors, issues, and mechanisms which would most likely be able to affect the relations among major powers and entities in Europe as well as in the Indo-Pacific region, and to see how possibly the main actors in these two regions could jointly shape a different model of global order, based on their management of and involvements in the core issues identified in this project. The next ten to twenty years will likely be a critical period to see whether a different global system from the current one can be forged, and what it might look like.
Since 1987, the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program has recruited thousands of young college graduates from more than sixty countries, including the United States, to work in Japan for up to five years. Now, thirty years after the program’s founding, there are more than 60,000 JET Program alumni worldwide, more than half of them hailing from the United States. The JET Program and the US–Japan Relationship: Goodwill Goldmine argues that JET functions as much more than an opportunity for young people to spend a year or more teaching in Japanese schools or working in municipal offices across the Japanese archipelago. This study examines the JET program as a form of public diplomacy and soft power. Through original survey data and extensive interviews with alumni, the author provides a quantitative analysis of the program’s effects and argues that it has been highly useful in shaping interactions between Japan and the United States.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is strategically significant because of its size, dynamism, and role in the Asian economic and security architectures. This paper examines how ASEAN seeks to strengthen these assets through "centrality" in intraregional and external policy decisions. It recommends a two-speed approach toward centrality in order to maximize regional incomes and benefit all member economies: first, selective engagement by ASEAN members in productive external partnerships and, second, vigorous policies to share gains across the region. This strategy has solid underpinnings in the Kemp-Wan theorem on trade agreements. It would warrant, for example, a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with incomplete ASEAN membership, complemented with policies to extend gains across the region. The United States could support this framework by pursuing deep relations with some ASEAN members, while broadly assisting the region's development.
We develop new economic policy uncertainty (EPU) indices for Japan from January 1987 onwards building on the approach of Baker, Bloom and Davis (2016). Each index reflects the frequency of newspaper articles that contain certain terms pertaining to the economy, policy matters and uncertainty. Our overall EPU index co-varies positively with implied volatilities for Japanese equities, exchange rates and interest rates and with a survey-based measure of political uncertainty. The EPU index rises around contested national elections and major leadership transitions in Japan, during the Asian Financial Crisis and in reaction to the Lehman Brothers failure, U.S. debt downgrade in 2011, Brexit referendum, and Japan’s recent decision to defer a consumption tax hike. Our uncertainty indices for fiscal, monetary, trade and exchange rate policy co-vary positively but also display distinct dynamics. VAR models imply that upward EPU innovations foreshadow deteriorations in Japan’s macroeconomic performance, as reflected by impulse response functions for investment, employment and output. Our study adds to evidence that credible policy plans and strong policy frameworks can favorably influence macroeconomic performance by, in part, reducing policy uncertainty.
This book examines the significance, prospects, and policy options of U.S.-Japan economic relations. Japan and the United States are the two largest economic powers. Together they account for over 30% of world domestic product, for a significant portion of international trade in goods and services, and for a major portion of international investment. This economic clout makes the United States and Japan potentially powerful actors in the world economy. Economic conditions in the United States and Japan have a significant impact on the rest of the world. The U.S.-Japan bilateral economic relationship can influence economic conditions in other countries. The two economies are highly integrated via trade in goods and services with large markets for each others exports and important sources of imports.
The world economy is experiencing a very strong but uneven recovery, with many emerging market and developing economies facing obstacles to vaccination. The global outlook remains uncertain, with major risks around the path of the pandemic and the possibility of financial stress amid large debt loads. Policy makers face a difficult balancing act as they seek to nurture the recovery while safeguarding price stability and fiscal sustainability. A comprehensive set of policies will be required to promote a strong recovery that mitigates inequality and enhances environmental sustainability, ultimately putting economies on a path of green, resilient, and inclusive development. Prominent among the necessary policies are efforts to lower trade costs so that trade can once again become a robust engine of growth. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Global Economic Prospects. The Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). Each edition includes analytical pieces on topical policy challenges faced by these economies.
It is hard for the US to ignore China these days with daily stories of product recalls which show that the vast preponderance of products sold in America are actually made in China. Add to that the fact that China is leaping forward in scientific and technology research and is fuelled by a boom economy. This new book presents analyses of relevant to China-US economic and geopolitical relations.
The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Past, Present, and Future explains the inner workings of the U.S.-Japan alliance and recommends new approaches to sustaining this critical bilateral security relationship.