Japanese Optimism or Dickensian Economics.

by | Feb 16, 2005 | News, Press

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?

by | Jan 31, 2005 | News, Press

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...

(Y)ending the Japanese Recovery.

by | Dec 3, 2004 | News, Press

Nikkei Business. 3rd December 2004 After a couple of quarters of robust growth, the Japanese economy slowed sharply in the three months to end June. When these data were published, great confidence was expressed by interested parties, including bureaucrats and...

UK and EU: The economics and politics.

by | Oct 1, 2004 | News, Press

HealthInvestor, 1st October 2004 The old cliché that all predictions are difficult, particularly about the future, seems especially feeble when the discussion is about Europe. We can be confident that Britain will vote “No” in the promised referendum, that this will...

Timing Difficulty.

by | Sep 28, 2004 | News, Press

Nikkei Business., 28th September 2004 Few economists expected the weakness shown by Japan’s economy in the second quarter of the year. This is part of a worldwide trend as similar errors were made in the US, eurozone and UK. Economists, it seems, are not good at...

The Economic Consequences of Alan Greenspan.

by | Jan 1, 2002 | News, Papers

Andrew Smithers & Stephen Wright. World Economics Vol 3 No. 1 January-March 2002, 1st January 2002 Introduction The current troubles of the US economy, and the prolonged problems in Japan, have both followed sharp falls in their stock markets. Whether central...