Princes of the Yen: Japan's Central Bankers and the Transformation of the EconomyThis eye-opening book offers a disturbing new look at Japan's post-war economy and the key factors that shaped it. It gives special emphasis to the 1980s and 1990s when Japan's economy experienced vast swings in activity. According to the author, the most recent upheaval in the Japanese economy is the result of the policies of a central bank less concerned with stimulating the economy than with its own turf battles and its ideological agenda to change Japan's economic structure. The book combines new historical research with an in-depth behind-the-scenes account of the bureaucratic competition between Japan's most important institutions: the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan. Drawing on new economic data and first-hand eyewitness accounts, it reveals little known monetary policy tools at the core of Japan's business cycle, identifies the key figures behind Japan's economy, and discusses their agenda. The book also highlights the implications for the rest of the world, and raises important questions about the concentration of power within central banks. |
Contents
Japanese Lesson | xix |
The Total War Economy | 7 |
Winning the Peace An Economy at War | 21 |
The Alchemy of Banking | 36 |
Credit The Economic High Command | 46 |
The First Bid for Central Bank Independence | 55 |
Japans First Bubble Economy | 71 |
Mysterious Money The Ebb and Flow of the Yen | 80 |
The Goal of Monetary Policy | 155 |
Back to the Future The Return of USStyle Capitalism | 177 |
Reflation Another Miracle in the Making | 197 |
The Asian Crisis and the Central Bankers | 206 |
More Power to the Princes | 220 |
The Revival of the Reichsbank | 230 |
Japanese Fiscal and Monetary Policies in the 1990s | 247 |
Notes | 279 |
The Great Yen Illusion Credit Bubble and Bust | 87 |
How to Prolong a Recession | 101 |
The Battle of the Yen | 112 |
At the Trigger of the Gun | 124 |
The Princes of the Yen | 138 |
Bibliography | 329 |
349 | |
353 | |
361 | |
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Common terms and phrases
allocation argued Asian asset prices bad debts bank credit Bank of Japan bankers banking system bond boost borrowing bubble Bundesbank bureaucrats central bank companies corporate countries created credit controls credit creation credit crunch crisis currency deflation demand deposit deputy governor deregulation economic growth economic structure economic system economists exchange rate firms fiscal policy foreign exchange funds GDP growth German goal growth rate hence Ichimada implement increase independent industries inflation institutions interest rates investment investors Japan Law Japan officials Japan's economy Japanese land prices liquidity trap loan growth quotas loan quotas Maekawa managers Mieno minister Ministry of Finance monetary policy money supply Nihon Keizai Shinbun Nikkei nominal GDP Okina percent politicians postwar princes purchasing power quantitative easing real estate recession recovery Reichsbank Sasaki sector shareholders structural reform Sumita target tion Tokyo Toshihiko Fukui transactions U.S. dollar war economy wartime Werner window guidance zaibatsu