Japan's Bubble, Deflation, and Long-term Stagnation

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262014890
Total Pages : 435 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Bubble, Deflation, and Long-term Stagnation by : Kōichi Hamada

Download or read book Japan's Bubble, Deflation, and Long-term Stagnation written by Kōichi Hamada and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New perspectives on Japan's "lost decade" viewed in the context of recent financial turmoil.

Japan's Great Stagnation

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Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857938223
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (579 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Great Stagnation by : W. R. Garside

Download or read book Japan's Great Stagnation written by W. R. Garside and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Recent events have rendered Japan's lost decades all the more relevant to the rest of us. Rick Garside, in this wide-ranging and accessible account, explores the political economy of Japan's great stagnation with an eye toward describing how other advanced economies can avoid going down the same path.' – Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley, US 'Professor Garside's timely book transcends the national preoccupation suggested by its title. From one viewpoint this is a case study (admittedly on a grand scale) of the experience of one country in one historical period. But in analyzing the dynamic relationship between Japan's post-war economic miracle and its chronic stagnation from the 1990's he offers a penetrating insight into the links between profound and embedded institutional and ideological influences, global upheaval, and almost disastrous national economic performance. Hence, Japan's Great Stagnation – the unfolding story of that country's declining experience from masterful economic power to seeming economic paralysis – provides us with an all-too familiar scenario with which to approach the contemporaneous ills of the world's developed economies. The interaction between banking crises, unwieldy institutions (especially, but not only, financial institutions), policy frailties, and stagnating demand – all conspired to create crisis and then handicap or prevent recovery. And the familiarity of the story is aggravated by the global financial crisis which now threatens to engulf us. History never fully repeats itself, but Professor Garside's illuminating examination of Japan's recent experiences must surely provide important points of relevance for the world's current malaise. He is to be congratulated on the depth and scope of what he has achieved – and for its relevance to what we are experiencing.' – Barry Supple, University of Cambridge, UK This timely book presents a critical examination of the developmental premises of Japan's high-growth success and its subsequent drift into recession, stagnation and piecemeal reform. The country, which within a few decades of wartime defeat mounted a serious challenge to American hegemony, appeared incapable of fully adjusting to shifting economic circumstance once the impulses of catch-up growth and the good fortune of an accommodating international environment faded. The banking crises, spiralling government debt, and stagnant growth experienced by major industrialized nations in recent years have evoked renewed interest in Japan's economic denouement since the 1990s. To many, Japan's drift into recession and financial crisis during the early 1990s, and later into stagnation and prolonged deflation, demonstrated precisely what not to do when fashioning remedial policy. This book details the legacies of Japan's high-growth success and how they affected Japan's capacity to cope with shifting national and international circumstance from the 1980s. It reviews the contentious debates over the causes and consequences of the 'bubble economy' and the 'lost decade', and assesses the extent to which reforms since 1997 have been compromised by lingering attachments to Japan's distinctive post-war political economy. Providing an analytical overview of both the high growth and recessionary periods and of subsequent reform agendas, this timely book will appeal to students, academics and researchers of economic history, development and politics, particularly those with an interest in Japan and Asian studies more generally.

Economic Stagnation in Japan

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Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1788110447
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (881 download)

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Book Synopsis Economic Stagnation in Japan by : Dongchul Cho

Download or read book Economic Stagnation in Japan written by Dongchul Cho and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan’s dramatic transformation from economic success to economic stagnation offers important policy lessons to advanced countries everywhere that are struggling with stagnation. The term ‘Japanization’ is often used by economists to describe long-term stagnation and deflation. Symptoms include high unemployment, weak economic activity, interest rates near zero, quantitative easing, and population aging. In the global context, what can governments do to mitigate the downward trends experienced by Japan? This judiciously timed book investigates in depth the causes of Japan’s ‘lost decades’ versus the real recovery achieved by the United States, and the lessons that can be learned.

Japan’s Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9811321760
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (113 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan’s Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics by : Kenji Aramaki

Download or read book Japan’s Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics written by Kenji Aramaki and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-02-07 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the struggles of the Japanese economy over the last 30 years, analyzing in detail the formation of the huge economic bubble in the 1980s, its collapse at the beginning of the 1990s, and subsequent two decade long economic stagnation and chronic deflation, with the aim of identifying the mechanism of such processes and drawing lessons for future economic policy management. The book also assesses the comprehensive policy efforts called “Abenomics” under the current Abe administration. As Abe continues into a new term, this book will be of interest to Japan scholars, economists, and policymakers around the world, particularly in Asia.

Japan’s Lost Decade

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 981105021X
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan’s Lost Decade by : Naoyuki Yoshino

Download or read book Japan’s Lost Decade written by Naoyuki Yoshino and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses Japan’s long-term economic recession and provides remedies for that recession that are useful for other Asian economies. The book addresses why Japan’s economy has stagnated since the bursting of its economic bubble in the 1990s. Its empirical analysis challenges the beliefs of some economists, such as Paul Krugman, that the Japanese economy is caught in a liquidity trap. This book argues that Japan’s economic stagnation stems from a vertical “investment–saving” (IS) curve rather than a liquidity trap. The impact of fiscal policy has declined drastically, and the Japanese economy faces structural problems rather than a temporary downturn. These structural problems have many causes: an aging demographic (a problem that is frequently overlooked), an over-reliance by local governments on transfers from the central government, and Basel capital requirements that have made Japanese banks reluctant to lend money to start-up businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. This latter issue has discouraged Japanese innovation and technological progress. All these issues are addressed empirically and theoretically, and several remedies for Japan’s long-lasting recession are provided. This volume will be of interest to researchers and policy makers not only in Japan but also the People’s Republic of China, many countries in the eurozone, and the United States, which may face similar challenges in the future.

The Origin of the Prolonged Economic Stagnation in Contemporary Japan

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317384148
Total Pages : 137 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis The Origin of the Prolonged Economic Stagnation in Contemporary Japan by : Masayuki Otaki

Download or read book The Origin of the Prolonged Economic Stagnation in Contemporary Japan written by Masayuki Otaki and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-20 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The deflationary Japanese economy is a spurious observation and a precarious political propaganda, which tacitly connects with the fanatic diagnosis urging an inflation-prompting macroeconomic policy. This book provides an overview of the prolonged stagnation of the current Japanese economy. It also examines the politico-economic implications concerning the precarious conversion of Japanese monetary policy and focuses on the vulnerability of the price-sustaining policy concerning the public debt. The book also analyzes and suggests against the acceleration of inflation under the current Japanese foreign exchange system and also suggests that the surge of foreign direct investment towards East Asia is the acute cause of Japanese economy stagnation. The book concludes that to rebuild the economic potential of the Japanese economy, education and fostering the youths are the keys. This book will definitely interest those who are keen to learn more about the relationship between Bank of Japan and the Japanese political parties.

Japan's Policy Trap

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0815798768
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Policy Trap by : Akio Mikuni

Download or read book Japan's Policy Trap written by Akio Mikuni and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-05-13 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until quite recently, the Japanese inspired a kind of puzzled awe. They had pulled themselves together from the ruin of war, built at breakneck speed a formidable array of export champions, and emerged as the world's number-two economy and largest net creditor nation. And they did it by flouting every rule of economic orthodoxy. But today only the puzzlement remains—at Japan's inability to arrest its economic decline, at its festering banking crisis, and at the dithering of its policymakers. Why can't the Japanese government find the political will to fix the country's problems? Japan's Policy Trap offers a provocative new analysis of the country's protracted economic stagnation. Japanese insider Akio Mikuni and long-term Japan resident R. Taggart Murphy contend that the country has landed in a policy trap that defies easy solution. The authors, who have together spent decades at the heart of Japanese finance, expose the deep-rooted political arrangements that have distorted Japan's monetary policy in a deflationary direction. They link Japan's economic difficulties to the Achilles' heel of the U.S. economy: the U.S. trade and current accounts deficits. For the last twenty years, Japan's dollar-denominated trade surplus has outstripped official reserves and currency in circulation. These huge accumulated surpluses have long exercised a growing and perverse influence on monetary policy, forcing Japan's authorities to support a build-up of deflationary dollars. Mikuni and Murphy trace the origins of Japan's policy trap far back into history, in the measures taken by Japan's officials to preserve their economic independence in what they saw as a hostile world. Mobilizing every resource to accumulate precious dollars, the authorities eventually found themselves coping with a hoard they could neither use nor exchange. To counteract the deflationary impact, Japanese authorities resorted to the creation of yen liabilities unrelated to production via the large

Japan's Lost Decade

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 31 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Lost Decade by : Naoyuki Yoshino

Download or read book Japan's Lost Decade written by Naoyuki Yoshino and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan has suffered from sluggish economic growth and recession since the 1990s, a phenomenon dubbed "Japan's Lost Decade." The People's Republic of China, many countries in the eurozone, and the United States may face similar problems in future and they have been concerned by Japan's long-term recession. This paper will address why Japan's economy has stagnated since the bursting of its economic bubble. Our empirical analysis challenges the beliefs of some western economists, such as Paul Krugman, that the Japanese economy is in a liquidity trap. We argue that Japan's economic stagnation stems from a vertical IS curve rather than a liquidity trap. The impact of fiscal policy has declined drastically, and the Japanese economy faces structural problems rather than a temporary downturn. These structural problems have many causes: an aging demographic (a problem that is frequently overlooked), an over-reliance by local governments on transfers from the central government, and Basel capital requirements that have made Japanese banks reluctant to lend money to startup businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. This latter issue has discouraged Japanese innovation and technological progress. The paper will address all these issues empirically and theoretically and will provide some remedies for Japan's long-lasting recession.

Japanese Monetary Policy

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226760685
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis Japanese Monetary Policy by : Kenneth J. Singleton

Download or read book Japanese Monetary Policy written by Kenneth J. Singleton and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How has the Bank of Japan (BOJ) helped shape Japan's economic growth during the past two decades? This book comprehensively explores the relations between financial market liberalization and BOJ policies and examines the ways in which these policies promoted economic growth in the 1980s. The authors argue that the structure of Japan's financial markets, particularly restrictions on money-market transactions and the key role of commercial banks in financing corporate investments, allowed the BOJ to influence Japan's economic success. The first two chapters provide the most in-depth English-language discussion of the BOJ's operating procedures and policymaker's views about how BOJ actions affect the Japanese business cycle. Chapter three explores the impact of the BOJ's distinctive window guidance policy on corporate investment, while chapter four looks at how monetary policy affects the term structure of interest rates in Japan. The final two chapters examine the overall effect of monetary policy on real aggregate economic activity. This volume will prove invaluable not only to economists interested in the technical operating procedures of the BOJ, but also to those interested in the Japanese economy and in the operation and outcome of monetary reform in general.

Reviving Japan's Economy

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 452 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis Reviving Japan's Economy by : Takatoshi Itō

Download or read book Reviving Japan's Economy written by Takatoshi Itō and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysis and policy prescriptions for Japan's sustained economic recovery from its 14-year malaise by 15 top American and Japanese experts on the subject. Japan, the world's second largest economy, has suffered from a prolonged period of stagnation and malaise since 1991. Subpar growth, failing banks, plummeting real estate and stock prices, deflation, unprecedented unemployment, and huge government liabilities have persisted, despite extraordinary fiscal and monetary policy fixes. In Reviving Japan's Economy, 16 top American and Japanese experts analyze Japan's underperforming economy, and develop and recommend policy solutions aimed at achieving Japan's growth potential, improving the quality of life for the Japanese people, and strengthening Japan's contribution to the global economy. A collaborative effort that grew out of a research project begun in 2002 and sponsored by the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University and the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, the book looks to the future while having as its foundation a careful analysis of Japan's recent economic history. The contributing authors examine such topics as the long-term economic, demographic, social, and political transformation now underway in Japan; the costs of the long economic malaise; lessons for the United States from Japan's post-bubble mistakes; aggregate demand and macroeconomic policy; monetary policy; financial system difficulties; issues facing the Japanese labor market; corporate restructuring and financing; and Japan's new trade policy. The feasible, optimal policy solutions offered in this book aim to prompt a revival of Japan's long-run economic vitality.

The Japanese Banking Crisis

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9811595984
Total Pages : 127 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (115 download)

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Book Synopsis The Japanese Banking Crisis by : Ryozo Himino

Download or read book The Japanese Banking Crisis written by Ryozo Himino and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book provides a readable narrative of the bubbles and the banking crisis Japan experienced during the two decades between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. Japan, which was a leading competitor in the world’s manufacturing sector, tried to transform itself into an economy with domestic demand-led mature growth, but the ensuing bubbles and crisis instead made the country suffer from chronicle deflation and stagnation. The book analyses why the Japanese authorities could not avoid making choices that led to this outcome. The chapters are based on the lectures to regulators from emerging economies delivered at the Global Financial Partnership Center of the Financial Services Agency of Japan.

Income Distribution and Economic Growth of Japan Under the Deflationary Economy

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Author :
Publisher : World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9789814436151
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (361 download)

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Book Synopsis Income Distribution and Economic Growth of Japan Under the Deflationary Economy by : Osamu Nakamura

Download or read book Income Distribution and Economic Growth of Japan Under the Deflationary Economy written by Osamu Nakamura and published by World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated. This book was released on 2013 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese economy has experienced a structural deflationary gap since the mid-1970s. Although the gap was decreasing in the bubble period, the deflationary economy has become more serious since the bursting of the bubble. Accordingly, this book attempts to examine the causes of the Japanese deflationary economy, characterized as a structural deflation and discusses how to alleviate the prolonged slowdown in order to restore Japan to a trajectory of high economic growth, with a special focus on the function of income distribution. In addition, not only income distribution flows but also accumulation of assets and debts in the household sector are taken into account for improving the prolonged economic stagnation of Japan by employing an econometric analysis with modeling and forecasting techniques. Furthermore, this book makes a long-term forecast of the Japanese economy, up to the fiscal year 2030, with policy scenario simulations in order to capture the long-term growth path of the Japanese economy and to analyze the effects of alternative policies on the economy. Book jacket.

Japan's Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics: Mechanisms and Lessons

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Author :
Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan
ISBN 13 : 9789811530739
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics: Mechanisms and Lessons by : Kenji Aramaki

Download or read book Japan's Long Stagnation, Deflation, and Abenomics: Mechanisms and Lessons written by Kenji Aramaki and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2020-02-23 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the struggles of the Japanese economy over the last 30 years, analyzing in detail the formation of the huge economic bubble in the 1980s, its collapse at the beginning of the 1990s, and subsequent two decade long economic stagnation and chronic deflation, with the aim of identifying the mechanism of such processes and drawing lessons for future economic policy management. The book also assesses the comprehensive policy efforts called "Abenomics" under the current Abe administration. As Abe continues into a new term, this book will be of interest to Japan scholars, economists, and policymakers around the world, particularly in Asia. Kenji Aramaki graduated from Hitotsubashi University with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies in 1974 and a Bachelor of Arts in Law in 1976. He was awarded Master of Philosophy in Economics from Oxford University in 1980 and Doctor of Economics in 2001 from Kyoto University. After 30 year-long career at the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan, including two years as an economist at the IMF, he moved to the University of Tokyo where he taught international economy up to March 2017. He has been teaching at the Tokyo Woman's Christian University since April 2017. He was a visiting professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University from 2014 to 2015. His publications include "Capital Account Liberalization: Japan's Experience and Implications for China" in Capital Account Liberalization in China: The Need for a Balanced Approach (2014), "Bretton Woods Institutions and Japan's Response-Past, Present and the Future" in Glenn D. Hook and Harukiyo Hasegawa's edited volume Japanese Responses to Globalization (2006), and in Japanese, The Asian Crisis and the IMF (1999) and Risks of Financial Globalization (2018).

Japan's Lost Decade

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789811050206
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Lost Decade by : Naoyuki Yoshino

Download or read book Japan's Lost Decade written by Naoyuki Yoshino and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Impact of Demographics on Productivity and Inflation in Japan

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Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1475569599
Total Pages : 18 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (755 download)

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Book Synopsis The Impact of Demographics on Productivity and Inflation in Japan by : Mr.Niklas J Westelius

Download or read book The Impact of Demographics on Productivity and Inflation in Japan written by Mr.Niklas J Westelius and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-01-18 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is Japan’s aging and, more recently, declining population hampering growth and reflation efforts? Exploiting demographic and economic variation in prefectural data between 1990 and 2007, we find that aging of the working age population has had a significant negative impact on total factor productivity. Moreover, prefectures that aged at a faster pace experienced lower overall inflation, while prefectures with higher population growth experienced higher inflation. The results give strong support to the notion that demographic headwinds can have a non-trivial impact on total factor productivity and deflationary pressures.

Boom and Bust

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108369359
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (83 download)

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Book Synopsis Boom and Bust by : William Quinn

Download or read book Boom and Bust written by William Quinn and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do stock and housing markets sometimes experience amazing booms followed by massive busts and why is this happening more and more frequently? In order to answer these questions, William Quinn and John D. Turner take us on a riveting ride through the history of financial bubbles, visiting, among other places, Paris and London in 1720, Latin America in the 1820s, Melbourne in the 1880s, New York in the 1920s, Tokyo in the 1980s, Silicon Valley in the 1990s and Shanghai in the 2000s. As they do so, they help us understand why bubbles happen, and why some have catastrophic economic, social and political consequences whilst others have actually benefited society. They reveal that bubbles start when investors and speculators react to new technology or political initiatives, showing that our ability to predict future bubbles will ultimately come down to being able to predict these sparks.

Bending Adversity

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143126954
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Bending Adversity by : David Pilling

Download or read book Bending Adversity written by David Pilling and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry, including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices, Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan. Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion. And while life has become less certain, opportunities—in particular for the young and for women—have diversified. Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future. Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling’s many interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood island nation and its people. The Financial Times “David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England, dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity: ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades” in the context of what the country is really like and its actual achievements.” The Telegraph (UK) “Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly placed to be our guide, and his insights are a real rarity when very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated this country”... well-written... valuable.” Publishers Weekly (starred): "A probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan."