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A Demographic Perspective on Japan's “Lost Decades”
Author(s) -
Aoki Reiko
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
population and development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.836
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1728-4457
pISSN - 0098-7921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00554.x
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , citation , population , sociology , library science , social science , demography , computer science , artificial intelligence
The Japanese economy has not grown since the asset bubble burst in 1990. Stock markets have not yet recovered and the unemployment rate has remained high, by Japan's standards, despite a zero real interest rate (held down by deflation). Initially, the years of economic underperformance were called the “Lost Decade.” A widely held view was that Japan had not bounced back because of a lack of effective economic policy. But after another decade passed without significant improvement, those years are now called the “Lost Decades.” The emerging consensus is that the causes of the Lost Decades are to be found in fundamental aspects of Japanese society and economy.