Japan's non-performing loan (NPL) problem was, previously, regarded as stemming from the formation and bursting of asset price bubbles. In recent years, however, the problem has been increasingly linked with structural adjustment pressure in the economy. This article analyzes the continuing...

This paper investigates the characteristics of households' inflation expectations using the micro-data of the Opinion Survey on the General Public's Views and Behavior conducted by the Bank of Japan. The results of the Kahn test indicate the existence of strong downward rigidity in households'...

This paper studies bidding behaviors in fixed-rate funds-supplying auctions using a simple game-theoretic model. While the existing literature argues that such auction schemes are vulnerable to the overbidding problem, the bid-to-cover ratio for the Bank of Japan's current fixed-rate operations...

A standard growth accounting exercise indicates that, after Japan's "lost decade," its overall total-factor-productivity (TFP) growth has increased notably since 2000. This productivity revival has been limited, however, to information technology (IT) production--has not been a broad-based...

In business surveys, how to treat the data on which no responses are obtained (missing values) is an important theme in maintaining and improving the accuracy and reliability of statistics. The Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan (Tankan) enjoys a high response rate thanks to the...

This paper analyses the trade relationships within East Asia and between East Asia and the US and Japan, with particular emphasis on the structural changes that occurred during the 1990s. The main purpose of the analysis is to gain a better understanding of the potential global impact of these...

Equilibrium nominal interest rates are useful indicators for both monetary policy authorities and market players. However, there are few studies which estimate Japan's equilibrium rate because of its persistent low interest rate. We overcome this challenge by using survey forecasts of interest...

This paper describes Financial Activity Indexes (FAIXs), early warning system for financial imbalances in Japan. We introduced the first version of FAIXs in 2012 and revise FAIXs this time. First, we sort the candidate financial indicators into 14 categories. Second, in each category, we examine...

This paper investigates the dynamics of capital structure of Japanese firms since the early 1990s to shed light on how far the reduction of excess leverage has progressed so far in Japan. Our main findings are as follows. First, the trade-off theory provides an appropriate framework to assess...

CCL, established by IMF in 1999, and intra-regional swap agreements among the ASEAN+3 countries are considered to be frameworks for foreign liquidity provision when a country experiences a liquidity crisis. It is probable that such movements would see further progress in the future, involving...