This paper employs block recursive structural VAR models with Markov switching for modeling monetary policy and private sector behavior of the Japanese economy. By estimating the endogenous structural breaks, we investigate the existence, number, and nature of breaks possibly implied by the...

The paper investigates the possibility of decline in the persistence of real exchange rates, or deviations from PPP. To this end, we test the null hypothesis of no decline in the PPP deviation persistence between two subsamples using a fractional integration framework. The test rejects the null...

We construct quarterly series of the revenues, expenditures, and debt outstanding for Japan from 1980 to 2010, and analyze the sustainability of the fiscal policy. We pursue three approaches to examine the sustainability. First, we calculate the minimum tax rate that stabilizes the debt to GDP...