After experiencing spectacular economic growth and industrial development for much of the postwar era, Japan plunged abruptly into recession in the early 1990s and since then has suffered a prolonged period of economic stagnation, from which it is only now emerging. Japan's malaise, marked by...

In The Political Economy of Japanese Monetary Policy, Cargill, Hutchison, and Takatoshi investigate the formulation and execution of monetary and financial policies in Japan within a broad technical, political, and institutional context. Their emphasis is on the period since the collapse of the...

Japan's financial institutions and policy underwent remarkable change in the past decade. The country began the 1990s with a heavily regulated financial system managed by an unchallenged Ministry of Finance and ended the decade with a Big Bang financial market reform, a complete restructuring of...