Japan

Japan is set to release a slew of economic data on July 1. Of these the jobless rate is probably the least important. It is lagging indicator, though softness in the job-to-applicant ratio would warn of no quick improvement. On the other…

For my part, I am with Richard Koo. Monetary policy reflation will not work in a balance sheet recession when fiscal policy is contractionary. But at some point, the Fed will be compelled to act anyway.

Rather than adding stimulus with the aim of goosing demand to help the economy reach escape velocity, I would say that the central objective of economic policy is to help the economy reach full employment. Doing so will increase demand,…

I mean to ask how deep the downturn in your country was. On Tuesday, Martin Wolf had a good graphic on this. The upshot of his analysis is that while US GDP growth compares favourably to Japan and Western Europe, its unemployment compares…

As workers continue to battle with the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, more impacts from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl are starting to arise. The latest impact will hit car manufacturers, with plants in central Japan…

Dollar stronger against most majors, but the yen is the strongest currency today, breaking 80 The ECB is meeting and Trichet’s press conference should be the key news today BOE leaves rates unchanged as expected

Despite pumping trillions of yen into the economy over the last decade, Japan's M3 money stock is no higher now than it was at the beginning of the last decade as the private sector has deleveraged.

With the arrival of the first real Japanese data since the Tsunami struck the immensity of the tragedy which Japan is passing through is only now gradually becoming apparent. Exports were down by a seasonally adjusted 7.7% in March over…

The outcome at the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is so important to the future of nuclear power that we thought an update would be in order. The long and the short of it is that Tepco is making progress, but oh so slowly.

The power shortages and damaged factories are taking a larger toll than was initially evident. Press reports, for example, warn that the contagion via the supply chains may have greater global impact, which in turn could impact the…