Of course, that should read “Stiglitz, KRUGMAN, and Dean Baker”, not “Stiglitz, KEYNES, and Dean Baker”.
Begin forwarded message: > From: Marv Gandall <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Failing Abenomics > Date: September 22, 2014 at 9:59:12 PM EDT > To: Pen-L Economics <[email protected]> > > > On Sep 22, 2014, at 4:21 PM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Marv Gandall <[email protected]> wrote: >> Shinzo Abe’s Japan is the most recent and ambitious experiment in Keynesian >> pump-priming to reflate a stagnant economy. It’s been watched with keen >> anticipation by politicians, bankers, and policymakers in Europe and >> elsewhere frustrated by the failure of austerity to restore growth in their >> own economies to pre-recession levels. >> >> But now hope for a Japanese recovery is turning to disappointment, as its >> economy once again begins to contract. While prices have risen and >> unemployment has dropped, consumer spending and the domestic economy >> continue to languish. >> >> >> A couple of questions: >> - Is this really Keynesian or some kind of neo-monetarist policy? > > As you well know, left of centre Keynesians support monetary easing and > fiscal stimulus to revive a depressed capitalist economy, while conservative > austerians are dedicated to tight money and a balanced budget. leaving the > system to purge itself of its “excesses” by eliminating jobs, driving down > labour costs, and liquidating insolvent firms. The Abe administration, > however it may situate itself politically, was in the first camp when it > campaigned for, and subsequently launched, a large stimulus package while > simultaneously pressuring the BOJ to engage in a massive program of > quantitative easing. Certainly the pantheon of leading Keynesians in the US > thought the policy of the new government represented a turning point in > Japan’s decades-long stagnation. See, for example, these encomia to the > promise of Abenomics by Stiglitz, Keynes, and Dean Baker: > > See: > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/opinion/krugman-japan-the-model.html?_r=0 > > https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/shinzo-abe-and-soaring-confidence-in-japan-by-joseph-e--stiglitz > > http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/26/japan-recovery-us-deficit-hawks > > >> - If prices have risen and unemployment dropped, why is this policy >> considered a failure?? > > Because wages and economic growth have not recovered. Most jobs being created > belong to the poorly-paid “precariat”, and the economy contracted sharply > during the past quarter. > >> Also, who is it considered a failure by? > > The long article I posted will answer that question for you. > >> Aren’t we falling into the neoclassical trap where GDP growth is the only >> metric of successful economic policy? > > Who has made that claim? We can agree that the metric which matters most is > the standard of living of the working class measured in the first instance by > the availability of well-paying and secure jobs, but we can also agree that > there is a correlation between that and economic growth. > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
