Search Results
Journal Article
Postal savings in Japan and mortgage markets in the U.S.
Financial system redesign has become high political drama in Japan. In August, 2005, Prime Minister Koizumi's plan to privatize Japan's huge postal savings and life insurance system (PSS) was defeated in the Lower House of the Diet. Koizumi then retaliated by dissolving the Lower House and calling a "snap" election for September 11, 2005 in hopes of getting members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) more supportive of his program into the legislature. This was essentially a showdown?an open confrontation between the "new" and the "old" LDP in an effort by Koizumi to reduce the ...
Conference Paper
Financial reform in Japan: a central banker's view
Conference Paper
Financial restructuring: the Japanese experience
Journal Article
Japan's new prime minister and the Postal Savings System
This Economic Letter discusses the economics and politics of the PSS from both a historical and a forward-looking perspective. How Japan deals with the PSS and its associated institutions will reveal much about whether Japan is capable of developing a modern financial system that can return the economy to sustained growth and that can meet the challenge of a rapidly changing population.
Journal Article
Financial reform in Japan
Working Paper
\"Big Bang\" deregulation and Japanese corporate governance: a survey of the issues
The "Big Bang" deregulation of Japanese financial markets focuses on financial modernization. I argue that financial modernization is of secondary importance for improving the performance of the Japanese economy. A key long-term issue facing Japan is to maintain its high level of per capita income in the face of an aging population and slower productivity growth. To achieve this, it is important to increase the return earned on Japan's large stock of wealth. I argue the low return on wealth reflects characteristics of the Japanese corporate governance system. The proper focus of the Big ...