Relegating Importance.

The Nikkei Financial Daily, 30th September 2005 There is a strong temptation for journalists to give priority to the interesting over the important. This has been a marked feature of recent reports on the economy. After fifteen years of economic disappointment,...

Lies, damn lies and stockbrokers.

Andrew Smithers (Smithers & Co. Ltd.) and Andrew Milligan (Standard Life Investments) Fund Strategy Magazine., 12th September 2005 Andrew Smithers, chairman of Smithers & Co, a firm that advises on international asset allocation, gives a tongue-in-cheek guide...

China Crisis.

Nikkei Business, 28th April 2005 Recent data on the economy have been almost universally bad, but comment remains cheerful. As I explained in my January article, Japanese policy makers are driven to optimism by their lack of policy options. If the economy is weak, the...

Japanese Optimism or Dickensian Economics.

Nikkei Business., 16th February 2005 Recent data on the economy have been almost universally bad, but comment remains cheerful. As I explained in my January article, Japanese policy makers are driven to optimism by their lack of policy options. If the economy is weak,...

Has Japan’s Sad Experience Taught Her Nothing?

Talk at The Keidanren Kaikan Conference Center, Tokyo., 31st January 2005 15 months ago I gave a talk at this Center in which I discussed whether the disappointing performance of Japan’s economy over the past 15 years was the result of bad luck or bad policy. I...