Japan was hit hard by the global financial crisis even though its relatively resilient financial system initially limited the direct impact. The severe collapse of industrial production that followed was no doubt attributable to a confluence of factors, but the paper highlights the impact that...

After discussing major conceptual, and empirical issues relevant to the exchange rate policies of East Asian countries, the authors propose a regional exchange rate arrangement designed to promote intra-regional exchange rate stability, and regional economic growth. They argue that: 1) For...

This paper discusses regional monetary cooperation for East Asia, by drawing lessons from the European Payments Union, the CFA Franc Zone and the Arab Monetary Fund. Along with the well-known experience of the European Monetary System, these experiences suggest that effective monetary...

This book makes concrete macroeconomic policy recommendations for Asian economies aimed at minimizing the impacts of an economic and financial downturn, and setting the stage for an early return to sustainable growth. The focus is on short-term measures related to the cycle. The three main areas...

Written by a distinguished group of Asian social scientists, this study summarizes and synthesizes the economic impacts of the crisis on individual countries and their policy response since 2008, and in particular carefully scrutinizes the immediate and remote causes of the crisis. It not only...

This book makes concrete macroeconomic policy recommendations for Asian economies aimed at minimizing the impacts of an economic and financial downturn, and setting the stage for an early return to sustainable growth. The focus is on short-term measures related to the cycle. The three main areas...

Managing Capital Flows provides analyses designed to help policymakers develop a framework for managing capital flows that is consistent with prudent macroeconomic and financial sector stability.

East Asia's Monetary Future is an illuminating and valuable work which uniquely focuses on a long-term monetary view of the region. There are multiple and varied future scenarios which can be applied to this region – an enlarged Singapore–Brunei currency area, a greater China monetary bloc...

The paper discusses recent issues and possible future directions of Japan's official development assistance (ODA). While Japan remains one of the world's largest donor nations, given its prolonged economic stagnation and mounting public sector debt, the Japanese government is under increasing...

The paper summarizes how Japan’s foreign exchange and trade control system operated in the early 1950s, how and how effectively it was used as a tool of external adjustment, and how it was liberalized from the late 1950s into the early 1960s. Although the Japanese government was extensively...