Japan's economic growth rate dropped from three percent in the first half of the 1980s to one percent in the 1990s and beyond. It's not unreasonable, then, to call this Japanese economic situation "the Great Recession." What went wrong in Japan? First, we surveyed some proposed explanations,...

It is often argued that Japan's deteriorated banking sector continues to seriously affect its economy, but few empirical studies support that argument. Still, it is useful to examine the relationship between the weakness of the banking sector and Japan's low economic performance. In this study,...

Japan has experienced prolonged economic stagnation throughout the 1990s and beyond. The government's monetary policies do not to seem to have been effective in eradicating deflation and increasing the money supply. A decrease in the money multiplier is said to be one reason for this. This paper...

Deflation continues in Japan. The domestic corporate goods price index, excluding the effect of the consumption tax, has continuously declined since 1992. Moreover, the consumer price index (excluding fresh food) has declined since 1998. Why, then, does deflation continue? What do economists...

In 1820, many people thought that the development of Argentina and Chile would be as smooth as that of the United States. What went wrong? If we compare Argentina and Chile to some European countries, we can see examples of rich countries gradually receding. In 1910, the per capita GDP of...

Economic growth was achieved by inputs of labor and capital, and by technological progress. Therefore, to achieve good economic performance, there can be no disturbances that impede free and efficient inputs of labor and capital in the market, and that technology progress is vigorous. There are...

The increase of Japanese real wages in the 1990s has gradually become well-known. This increase was formed by the institutional reduction of contracted labor hours in the early 1990s and by deflation in the 1990s. Quantitative studies on the effect of the increase of wages on real GDP, however,...

Japan's economy today is plagued with a persistent deflation. From the early 1870s to the middle of the 1990s, however, Western countries too suffered from deflation. At that time, those countries experienced a fall in prices despite of a rise in money supply. In Japan, there is a controversy...

Much research has concluded that deteriorated banking sector had an adverse affect on the Great Depression. In Japan it is also pointed out that the bankruptcy of banks seriously affected the Japanese economy during the Showa Depression, but only few empirical studies have been made on this...

Economic growth was achieved by inputs of labor and capital, and by technological progress. Therefore, to achieve good economic performance, there can be no disturbances that impede free and efficient inputs of labor and capital in the market. Moreover, technological progress must be vigorous....