This paper quantifies the role of alternative shocks in accounting for the recent declines in Japanese saving rates and interest rates and provides some projections about their future course. We consider three distinct sources of variation in saving rates and real interest rates: changes in...

This paper analyzes the extent to which Japan's success at maintaining a low and stable inflation rate since the mid-1970s, while avoiding a major recession, is attributable to a switch in monetary control procedures by the Bank of Japan toward a so-called "money focused" monetary policy....

This paper examines the issue of whether differences in money targeting or base-drift procedures between Japan and the U.S. are significant contributing factors to Japan's superior macroeconomic performance over the last decade, and concludes that these procedures probably are not important...