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 judicious volume 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. This book helps to provide a basis for assessing a wide range of policy approaches from which policymakers and governments can choose to avoid economic decline. The expert contributions provide an overview of the pattern of '?Japanization'? in a global economic perspective, analyze similarities and differences between the Korean and Japanese economies, and examine policies taken by Japan during the lost decades. From this analysis, the book proposes future policy solutions for countries experiencing ?'Japanization'?. Economic stagnation and the relevant policy reactions have been of keen interest around the globe since the global financial crisis and this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and economic commentators alike. Contributors include: D. Cho, M. Fukao, K. Ito, T. Ito, D. Jeong, K.-C. Jung, S.T. Kim, Y.G. Kim, K. Kwon, A. Mason, J. Oh, I. Saito, J. Schiff, I. Song

The yen is now one of the major currencies freely traded in the world, and yet, many Japanese exporters take on a currency risk by invoicing in US dollars. In this book, the authors examine why this is the case, particularly for those exporters who have a strong presence in global markets. Managing Currency Risk enhances our understanding of exporters? behaviour by analysing the key factors that influence their choice of invoice currency. Detailed research based on unique data sets is used to highlight how firm size, product competitiveness, intra/inter-firm trade and the geography of export destination impact this decision. This book is a valuable resource for international finance researchers and political economists wishing to discover up-to-date information regarding currency invoicing by multinational firms. It will also be a vital tool for financial and governmental practitioners to discover more about their competitors? behaviour.

Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields includes keynote lectures and papers from the 5th International Workshop on Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields (RMEGV2021, Fukuoka, Japan, 9-10 September 2021). This book deals with challenging studies related to solving engineering issues around volcanic fields, including: Volcanic geology, disasters and their mitigation Resources and energy in volcanic fields Mechanical behavior of volcanic rocks and soils Groundwater and environmental problems in volcanic fields Geotechnical engineering in volcanic fields Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields is of great interest to civil engineers and engineering geologists working in the areas of rock and soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geothermal energy, engineering geology, and environmental science.

Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields includes keynote lectures and papers from the 5th International Workshop on Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields (RMEGV2021, Fukuoka, Japan, 9-10 September 2021). This book deals with challenging studies related to solving engineering issues around volcanic fields, including: Volcanic geology, disasters and their mitigation Resources and energy in volcanic fields Mechanical behavior of volcanic rocks and soils Groundwater and environmental problems in volcanic fields Geotechnical engineering in volcanic fields Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields is of great interest to civil engineers and engineering geologists working in the areas of rock and soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geothermal energy, engineering geology, and environmental science.

The failure of the dollar peg to prevent the Asian currency crisis of 1997 to 1998 has highlighted the importance of the exchange rate regime in Asia and provoked much discussion as to what the alternatives are in terms of exchange rate systems.
Bringing together extensive research on Asian basket currencies in one volume, this new text discusses whether a currency basket system is the answer, striking a balance between the theoretical and empirical. With strong policy implications for East Asia, the impressive team of contributors argue that for countries that have close economic relationships with several currency areas, it is well worth considering a currency basket system. The book also pursues the important idea of coordination failure, whereby if each individual country tries to adopt an optimal exchange rate given other neighbouring countries' policies, they may collectively fail to reach a region's optimal exchange rate regime.
A Basket Currency for Asia is a topical and significant text that will appeal to students and scholars of international finance and Asian economics.

The failure of the dollar peg to prevent the Asian currency crisis of 1997 to 1998 has highlighted the importance of the exchange rate regime in Asia and provoked much discussion as to what the alternatives are in terms of exchange rate systems.
Bringing together extensive research on Asian basket currencies in one volume, this new text discusses whether a currency basket system is the answer, striking a balance between the theoretical and empirical. With strong policy implications for East Asia, the impressive team of contributors argue that for countries that have close economic relationships with several currency areas, it is well worth considering a currency basket system. The book also pursues the important idea of coordination failure, whereby if each individual country tries to adopt an optimal exchange rate given other neighboring countries' policies, they may collectively fail to reach a region's optimal exchange rate regime.
"A Basket Currency for Asia" is a topical and significant text that will appeal to students and scholars of international finance and Asian economics.

This book contends that the East Asian financial constitution lacks an appropriate infrastructure, resulting in inefficient allocation of high savings and an over-inflated short-term debt market. It goes on to point out that despite high savings, East Asia's dependency on financial centers outside the region is also relatively high, and that there is no strong region-wide network to connect various financial centers in East Asia. Against this economic background, the contributors make recommendations for the establishment of effective and stable capital recycling in East Asia. The financial intermediary function of the regional financial centers - Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo - is evaluated. Discussion focusses on the issues of building an organic network between the financial markets of major economies in the region and enhancing the future role and function of those regional financial centres. The policy implications of the future development of regional financial markets - based on regional financial networks - that could potentially act as intermediaries between the high savings and productive sectors in East Asia are also examined. Concentrating on the major issues identified as central to building a new financial market structure in East Asia, this book will be appeal to those with a special interest in Asian studies and financial economics.

This book brings together studies conducted by researchers in East Asian countries who seek to better understand the impact of China's rise and the consequent policy challenges.The expert contributors illustrate that the rise of China and its integration with the rest of the world is one of the most important developments in the global economy. Over the past thirty years or so, China's economy has grown at nearly ten percent per annum with the expansion of the modern, export-oriented industrial sector, to become the third largest economy in the world and the second largest in trade. This book reviews the economic growth of East Asian countries since the 1990s and the various impacts that the rise of China has had on these countries. In particular, it addresses policy challenges faced in coping with the rise of China and maintaining economic growth. This timely book will strongly appeal to academics and researchers focusing on East Asia and China as well as those interested in international trade, development and economic growth.

The second edition of a comprehensive account of all the major aspects of the Japanese economy, substantially updated and expanded. This textbook offers a comprehensive, rigorous but accessible account of all the major aspects of the Japanese economy, grounding its approach in mainstream economics. The second edition has been extensively revised and substantially updated, with new material that covers Japan's period of economic stagnation between 1991 and 2010. The first edition, published in 1992, focused on Japan as a success story of catch-up economic development; this edition reflects the lessons learned from Japan's Lost Two Decades. After presenting the historical background, the book begins with macroeconomics, studying growth and business cycles. It then covers essential policy issues, with new material that takes into account the Japanese banking crisis of 1997-1998 and the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, discussing financial regulation, monetary policy, and fiscal policy. It goes on to examine saving, demography, and social security in light of Japan's ongoing demographic transition; industrial organization; labor markets; international trade and international finance; and the Japan-U.S. relationship. A new chapter offers a detailed analysis of the Lost Two Decades, synthesizing and applying concepts discussed in previous chapters and offering insights into such issues as successful catch-up growth, demographic shifts, and credit booms and busts.

This capstone volume to the Brookings project on Integrating National Economies--a pathbreaking series of books on the future of economic integration--presents a new vision to guide international policy. This book offers a thought-provoking and positive outlook on how national economies should be further integrated as we prepare to meet the challenge of creating a peaceful yet dynamic future for the global community in the next millennium.

For more than three decades, the United States has conducted a unique Japan-specific economic policy. This policy was motivated by Japan's economic size and dynamism, fears that a unique "Japanese model of capitalism" enabled it to compete unfairly and threaten American prosperity during a period of prolonged US economic difficulties, and that the United States had unique capabilities to induce policy change in Japan due to its provision of security guarantees. No More Bashing argues that these assessments are mistaken and that the United States should abandon its Japan-specific policy. Japan's declining relative importance in the world economy, the waning distinctiveness of its economic institutions, the failure of most recent US initiatives toward Japan, and the emergence of strengthened international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, all underscore the advisability of formulating new approaches to bilateral relations rooted more firmly in multilateral institutions. This volume analyzes the outlook for the Japanese and US economies; their trade and financial relationships, including their trade negotiations over the past decade; the implications of new regional developments, most notably the rise of China and proposals for East Asian economic cooperation; and the roles of the United States and Japan in the provision of international public goods such as development assistance, environmental protection, and international security. It emphasizes that their trade agenda is increasingly moving beyond traditional border impediments toward the more politically sensitive issues of internal regulation and deregulation, such as competition policy. The authors propose a series of new initiatives to address these challenges and strengthen the multilateral system.

Recent studies show that almost all industrial countries have experienced dramatic decreases in both fertility and mortality rates. This situation has led to aging societies with economies that suffer from both a decline in the working population and a rise in fiscal deficits linked to increased government spending. East Asia exemplifies these trends, and this volume offers an in-depth look at how long-term demographic transitions have taken shape there and how they have affected the economy in the region. "The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia" assembles a group of experts to explore such topics as comparative demographic change, population aging, the rising cost of health care, and specific policy concerns in individual countries. The volume provides an overview of economic growth in East Asia as well as more specific studies on Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. Offering important insights into the causes and consequences of this transition, this book will benefit students, researchers, and policy makers focused on East Asia, as well as anyone concerned with similar trends elsewhere in the world.

This book analyzes how the bank-dominated financial system-a key element of the oft-heralded "Japanese economic model"-broke down in the 1990s and spawned sweeping reforms. Japan's financial institutions and policy underwent remarkable change in the past decade. The country began the 1990s with a heavily regulated financial system managed by an unchallenged Ministry of Finance and ended the decade with a Big Bang financial market reform, a complete restructuring of its regulatory financial institutions, and an independent central bank. These reforms have taken place amid recession and rising unemployment, collapsing asset prices, a looming banking crisis, and the lowest interest rates in the industrial world. This book analyzes how the bank-dominated financial system-a key element of the oft-heralded "Japanese economic model"-broke down in the 1990s and spawned sweeping reforms. It documents the sources of the Japanese economic stagnation of the 1990s, the causes of the financial crisis, the slow and initially limited policy response to banking problems, and the reform program that followed. It also evaluates the new financial structure and reforms at the Bank of Japan in light of the challenges facing the Japanese economy. These challenges range from conducting monetary policy in a zero-interest rate environment characterized by a "liquidity trap" to managing consolidation in the Japanese banking sector against the backdrop of increasing international competition.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been an acceleration in the move from government regulation towards privatization. "Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region" is the first thoroughgoing account of the relative success of the different approaches to privatization as undertaken in Korea, China, Australia, and Japan.
In most contexts, privatization is expected to yield greater efficiency and cost effectiveness while avoiding the corruption and bloated budgets of government regulation or monopoly control. But broad-scale privatization, if ill designed, has also yielded its share of difficulties in East Asia. Privatization sometimes has created a vacuum in corporate governance for some of the region's most important industries and in some cases merely reinstated the monopoly-like configurations. The papers presented in this book discuss the experiences of privatization in several industries, including railroad and telecom, corporate governance problems, accounting issues, and challenges for the future in East Asian countries.
The first section is theoretical in nature and proposes boundaries among government protection, market freedom, and shareholder expectations. The second part is constituted by country case studies, beginning with an analysis of both the Korean financial crisis that followed its 1997 law to privatize large, public sector corporations and the new ways Korean corporations finance themselves. Following is an evaluation of China's approach to privatization, with an in-depth look at the financial transitions of companies slated for initial public offering.
Providing provocative examples of the methods of privatization in theAsia-Pacific region specifically, these papers will be of huge import to any economist or policymaker interested in transposing those successes for their own region.

The reform in Asian financial sectors--especially in banking and stock markets--has been remarkable since the currency crisis of 1997-98. East Asia is now a major player in international finance, providing serious competition to the more traditional financial centers of London and New York. "Financial Sector Development in the Pacific Rim" provides a rich collection of theoretical and empirical analyses of the growing capital markets in the region.
Bringing together authors from various East Asian and Pacific nations, this volume examines the institutional factors influencing financial innovation, the consequences of financial development, widespread consolidation occurring through mergers and acquisitions, and the implementation of policy reform. "Financial Sector Development in the Pacific Rim "offers the comparative analysis necessary to answer broad questions about economic development and the future of Asia.

This volume explores the macroeconomic experience of East Asia in the 1980s and the impact of the region's growth on the rest of the world. The authors examine variables such as current account surpluses and deficits, as well as the ways in which exchange rate fluctuations in today's global economy affect the economies of countries not only in the same region but across the globe. These fourteen papers are organized around four themes: the overall determinants of growth and trading relations in the region; monetary policies in relation to capital controls and capital accounts; the impact of exchange rates on industrial structure; and the potential for greater regional integration. The contributors cover topics such as interactions among exchange rate movements, trade balances, and capital flows in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and the impact of exchange rates on industrial structure, inventories, and prices of both domestic and exported goods. One set of papers, examining the role of government monetary policy, reveals that when oil prices declined in Taiwan and the government loosened its monetary policy, growth increased without inflation. Another set of papers, focusing on the extent of regional integration in East Asia, finds that most of these nations' currencies are more closely tied to the dollar than to the yen. Macroeconomic Linkage offers a careful study of economic developments in East Asia that will be especially valuable to economists interested in international trade and exchange rates and to regional experts who focus on East Asia.

During the first three decades following the Second World War, an increasingly open international trading system contributed to unprecedented economic growth throughout the world. But in recent years, that openness has been threatened by increased protectionism, regional trading arrangements - Europe 1992 and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement - and setbacks in negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In Trade and Protectionism, American and East Asian scholars consider the dangers of this trend for East Asian countries in particular and the world economy in general. The first two papers in the volume look at the context in which East Asian trading relations with the United States take place. The papers focus on the role of GATT, the importance of an open multilateral trading system, and the current threats to it. An analysis of the United States' regional trading arrangements is also included. The second set of papers addresses sensitive sectoral issues that have led to frictions in Japanese-American semiconductor trade and agricultural protection among Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. In the third group of studies, the authors examine U.S.-Japanese trade issues, the impact of U.S.-administered protection on Korean exports, and the openness of the Japanese market to exports from other Asian countries. Next, aspects of international economic relations among Asian countries are considered. Two studies explore foreign direct investment relations between Japan and other Asian countries, and the relationship between Japanese foreign direct investment and trade flows among Asian countries. The final five papers analyze how political-economic interaction affects levels ofprotection, focusing on the political economy of protection in Korea and Taiwan. This is the second volume in the series to come from the National Bureau of Economic Research-East Asia Seminar on Economics. The first volume, The Political Economy of Tax Reform, addresses tax reform in the global economy.

In recent years the tremendous growth of the service sector--including international trade in services--has outstripped that of manufacturing in many industrialized nations. As the importance of services has grown, economists have begun to focus on policy issues raised by them and have tried to understand what, if any, differences there are between production and delivery of goods and services.
This volume is the first book-length attempt to analyze trade in services in the Asia-Pacific region. Contributors provide overviews of basic issues involved in studying the service sector; investigate the impact of increasing trade in services on the economies of Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong; present detailed analyses of specific service sectors (telecommunications, financial services, international tourism, and accounting); and extend our understanding of trade in services beyond the usual concept (measured in balance of payment statistics) to include indirect services and services undertaken abroad by subsidiaries and affiliates.

The increased mobility and volume of international capital flows is a striking trend in international finance. While countries worldwide have engaged in financial deregulation, nowhere is this pattern more pronounced than in East Asia, where it has affected in unanticipated ways the behavior of exchange rates, interest rates, and capital flows. In these thirteen essays, American and Asian scholars analyze the effects of financial deregulation and integration on East Asian markets. Topics covered include the impact of financial liberalization in Japan, Korea, and Singapore, macroeconomic policy implications for financial management of export-led growth in Korea and Taiwan, the roles of the United States and Japan in trading with Asian countries, and the effects of foreign direct investment in China. Demonstrating the complexity of financial deregulation and the challenges it poses for policy makers, this volume provides an excellent picture of the overall status of East Asian financial markets for scholars in international finance and Asian economic development.

The exchange rate is a crucial variable linking a nation's domestic economy to the international market. Thus choice of an exchange rate regime is a central component in the economic policy of developing countries and a key factor affecting economic growth.
Historically, most developing nations have employed strict exchange rate controls and heavy protection of domestic industry-policies now thought to be at odds with sustainable and desirable rates of economic growth. By contrast, many East Asian nations maintained exchange rate regimes designed to achieve an attractive climate for exports and an "outer-oriented" development strategy. The result has been rapid and consistent economic growth over the past few decades.
"Changes in Exchange Rates in Rapidly Developing Countries" explores the impact of such diverse exchange control regimes in both historical and regional contexts, focusing particular attention on East Asia. This comprehensive, carefully researched volume will surely become a standard reference for scholars and policymakers.

The contributors to this volume analyze the growth experiences of Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan in light of the recently developed endogenous growth theory to provide an understanding of the economic boom in East Asia. The theory explored in this volume attributes the phenomenal economic success of these countries to, among other factors, the role of an outward orientation - a focus on exporting rather than on protecting home markets. In addition, the importance of exchange rate behavior, of the supportive role of government policy, and of the accumulation and promotion of physical and human capital are explored in detail. This collection also makes significant contributions to recent work examining the extent to which growth in each country became self-sustaining once it began. This fourth volume in the NBER-East Asia Seminar on Economics series demonstrates the relevance of endogenous growth theory for studying this important region and will be invaluable for economists and for those interested in East Asian affairs.

Considering the examples of Australia and the Pacific Rim, "Growth and Productivity in East Asia" offers a contemporary explanation for national productivity that measures contributions not only from capital and labor, but also from economic activities and relevant changes in policy, education, and technology.
Takatoshi Ito and Andrew K. Rose have organized a group of collaborators from several Asian countries, the United States, and other parts of the globe who ably balance both macroeconomic and microeconomic study with theoretical and empirical approaches. Growth and Productivity in East Asia gives special attention to the causes for the unusual success of Australia, one of the few nations to maintain unprecedented economic growth despite the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2001 global downturn. A new database comprising eighty-four Japanese sectors reveals new findings for the last thirty years of sectoral productivity and growth in Japan. Studies focusing on Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea also consider productivity and its relationship to research and development, foreign ownership, and policy reform in such industries as manufacturing, automobile production, and information technology.

Extremely low inflation rates have moved to the forefront of monetary policy discussions. In Asia, a number of countries--most prominently Japan, but also Taiwan and China--have actually experienced deflation over the last fifteen years. "Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim" explores the factors that have contributed to these circumstances and forecasts some of the potential challenges faced by these nations, as well as some potential solutions.
The editors of this volume attribute low inflation and deflation in the region to a number of recent phenomena. Some of these episodes, they argue, may be linked to rapid growth on the supply side of economies. Inadequate demand policy can also produce what is referred to as a "liquidity trap." With deflation, the expectation of falling prices encourages agents to defer costly purchases, thereby discouraging growth. Low inflation rates can also be traced to the presence of a "zero-lower bound" on interest rates, as well as the inflation-targeting phenomenon. Targets have been set so low, the editors argue, that in some cases a few bad shocks lead to deflation. A far-reaching and astute analysis of the causes and the resulting challenges of very low inflation rates in several Pacific Rim countries, this timely volume will be a centerpiece of discussions about this phenomenon in other regions as well.

Recently, real and artificial barriers to international transactions have fallen sharply, causing a rise in the overall volume of international trade. East Asia has been particularly affected by the economic stresses and gains derived from deregulation. "Deregulation and Interdependence in the Asia-Pacific Region" explores the broadly similar experiences of certain economies in the region--China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea--in dealing with the potentially volatile process of deregulation, and examines the East Asian response to a rapidly transforming economic environment.

The rapid emergence of East Asia as an important geopolitical-economic entity has been one of the most visible and striking changes in the international economy in recent years. With that emergence has come an increased need for understanding the problems of interdependence. As a step toward meeting this need, the National Bureau of Economic Research joined with the Korea Development Institute to sponsor this volume, which focuses on the complexities of tax reform in a global economy. Experts from Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and Thailand, as well as the United States, Canada, and Israel examine the major tax programs of the 1980s and their domestic and international economic effects. The authors provide overviews, country studies, and analyses of the effect of taxes on specific economic behavior, including saving and economic growth. The overviews include an examination of the link between taxes and domestic capital formation in open economies, and a look at the similarities and differences in the tax structure of eight East Asian countries. Other papers address broad issues related to tax policy and economic performance. Contributors evaluate the effects of changing the marginal tax rate on income from capital; analyze the relation between Korea's tax structure and its rate of economic growth; study the impact of tax reform and the aging Japanese population on savings; compare and contrast the gift and estate tax systems of the United States and Japan; and examine whether the tax systems of Korea and Taiwan, particularly the taxation of foreign capital, distort resource allocation. Studies of the political and economic interactions that underlie tax reform in the UnitedStates, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan reveal that in au of these countries domestic political considerations were far more important than international issues when deciding on tax reforms. Economists, policymakers, and members of the business community will benefit from these studies.