Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-19 Thread Jim Devine
Yoshie writes:You are right with regard to the Great Depression in the 30s, but today's Japan does not have "extreme unemployment," which has been one of the reasons why we haven't seen working-class revolts yet. Hardships have mainly hit new women college graduates, salarymen nearing the

Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-14 Thread Jim Devine
At 06:30 PM 12/14/00 -0500, you wrote: Hi Jim D.: Yoshie quotes Jan Kregel sayingClearly, in present conditions it is not the lack of a credible inflation policy [as he dubs Krugman's cure], but a credible interest rate policy that is creating difficulty. As Keynes notes in relation to

Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-14 Thread Stephen E Philion
(B) Nobuhito Kishi, "Lies, Damned Lies: The Real Story of Unemployment in Japan," at http://www.nira.go.jp/publ/review/96winter/kishi.html, a link to Sogo Kenkyu Kaihatsu Kiko [National Institute for Research Advancement].

Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Jim Devine
Yoshie quotes Jan Kregel sayingClearly, in present conditions it is not the lack of a credible inflation policy [as he dubs Krugman's cure], but a credible interest rate policy that is creating difficulty. As Keynes notes in relation to Fisher's recommendations of inflating out of the Great

RE: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Forstater, Mathew
Actually I disagree with Jim's assessment, and think Yoshie is right. I don't think Jan is just concerned with what Keynes "really" meant or said, but with whether Krugman's analysis is useful for effective policy. By the way, there are some other useful papers on the subject at Levy. Marc

RE: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Forstater, Mathew
Jim- Are you an advocate of IS-LM?? Is this analysis totally wrong?

Re: RE: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Jim Devine
At 10:42 AM 12/13/00 -0600, you wrote: Jim- Are you an advocate of IS-LM?? No, but ISLM provides a good language for the _start_ of a discussion, since almost every macroeconomist knows it. For example, Paul Davidson, a well-known anti-ISLMicist, uses IS-LM in his paper on the finance demand

RE: RE: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Forstater, Mathew
Yoshie- I would say Miyabe's book gives a very different view of consumer credit in Japan than what you put forward. It does argue that there are a group of people who do not go for credit cards, but this is not due to their unavailability, etc. I will try to type a few paragraphs in later. Some

Re: RE: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Rob Schaap
By the way, is it cool that Yoshie is evaluating Levy working papers and I am discussing Japanese novels, or is this scary?! Fantastically cool, Matt! Only a jack of all trades can really aspire to be master of one! Especially when the one in question is political economy, eh? I realise it's

Re: Re: RE: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Jim Devine
At 04:29 AM 12/14/00 +1000, you wrote: Fantastically cool, Matt! Only a jack of all trades can really aspire to be master of one! or jill of all trades, in Yoshie's case. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

Re: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-13 Thread Peter Dorman
Thanks, Dennis. Can you provide some references? Peter Dennis Robert Redmond wrote: On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Peter Dorman wrote: investment. The structural question is whether the elimination of these unproductive investments, and the resulting financial drag, can be accomplished within

Re: RE: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Jim Devine
At 11:20 AM 12/12/00 -0600, you wrote: "Krugman on the Liquidity Trap: Why Inflation Won't Bring Recovery In Japan," Jerome Levy Economics Institute, Working Paper No. 298, March 2000 Jan. A. Kregel Abstract Paul Krugman has argued that Japan is in a liquidity trap and that it can recover only

Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Michael Perelman
One consideration regarding Japan is that, so far as I understand, Japan's deficit has been used for massive public works spending, which could mean greater productivity in the future. Peter Dorman wrote: I'm not an expert on Japan either, but I think Jim's analysis of Japanese financial

Re: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Jim Devine
At 01:45 PM 12/12/00 -0800, you wrote: One consideration regarding Japan is that, so far as I understand, Japan's deficit has been used for massive public works spending, which could mean greater productivity in the future. on the other hand, I've heard that they've actually encountered

Re: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Peter Dorman
Well, this refers to the fiscal deficit, which is not such a big problem (compared to the financial fragility problem). Also, according to Bill Tabb's book on Japan (and other sources I've seen), "infrastructural" spending in Japan comes pretty close to Keynes' admonition to dig holes and fill

Re: Re: Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Anthony DCosta
:35 -0800 From: Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:6083] Re: Re: Re: Japan's Debt At 01:45 PM 12/12/00 -0800, you wrote: One consideration regarding Japan is that, so far as I understand, Japan's deficit has been used for

Re: Re: Japan's Debt

2000-12-12 Thread Dennis Robert Redmond
On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Peter Dorman wrote: investment. The structural question is whether the elimination of these unproductive investments, and the resulting financial drag, can be accomplished within the political-economic framework of Japanese capitalism. So far, Japan has not found a way