What caused Japan’s Great Stagnation in the 1990s? Evidence from an estimated DSGE model

Despite the widespread belief that Japan’s “Great Stagnation” in the 1990s is due to the financial dysfunction after the collapse of asset price bubbles, Hayashi and Prescott (2002) argue that its main cause is a slowdown in total factor productivity growth, using a calibrated neoclassical growth model. The present paper aims to fill this gap by estimating a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model augmented with a financial accelerator mechanism and associated financial shocks. Our estimation results show that even in the presence of the financial shocks an adverse neutral technology shock mainly induced the Great Stagnation and that the rate of neutral technological change is strongly correlated with all enterprises’ financial position in the Tankan. Based on these findings, the paper argues that the Great Stagnation was caused by an adverse neutral technology shock that is likely to represent a tightening of firms’ financing, which induced reduction of R&D investment and misallocation of resources as indicated in previous literature.     

Is there a slowdown in agricultural productivity growth in South America?

This article estimates agricultural productivity growth in 10 South American countries in 1969–2009 with the objective of investigating if the slowdown being measured in other countries is present in the region. Results show that productivity growth accounts for half of the three‐fold increase in agricultural output during this period and that performance is sensitive to R&D investments in the sector. The slowdown found for the 1990s to 2000s in the U.S. and some European economies does not seem to be present yet in South America. The region's total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate increased steadily from 1.07% during the 1970s to 2.29% during the 2000s. Given lags in adoption and the adaptive nature of innovations in these economies, we have yet to see the potential effects in South American agriculture of decreases in R&D in advanced economies.     

The causes of Japan's ‘lost decade’: The role of household consumption

In this paper, I analyze the causes of the prolonged slowdown of the Japanese economy in the 1990s and find that the stagnation of investment, especially private fixed investment, was the primary culprit. I then investigate the causes of the stagnation of household consumption during the 1990s and find that the stagnation of household disposable income, the decline in household wealth, and increased uncertainty about the future are among the contributing factors. Finally, I consider whether demand side factors or supply side factors were more important as causes of the prolonged slowdown of the Japanese economy in the 1990s and conclude that the former (especially misguided government policies) were probably more important.     

The effect of a Chinese slowdown on inflation in the euro area and the United States

We investigate the effect of a Chinese slowdown on inflation in the euro area and the United States using the NiGEM multi-country model. We construct different scenarios including a fall in Chinese aggregate demand, a commodity price slump, financial market corrections and a devaluation of the renmimbi. While the commodity slump has the strongest impact on inflation, the demand and exchange rate shocks also play a role; on the contrary, financial turbulences have minor effects. Finally, we study the extent to which monetary policy in advanced economies can succeed in reflating the economy following such a Chinese slowdown. The room for central bank interventions is large.     

Growth slowdowns redux

We analyze the incidence and correlates of growth slowdowns in fast-growing middle-income countries, extending the analysis of an earlier paper (Eichengreen et al., 2012a). We continue to find dispersion in the per capita income at which slowdowns occur. But in contrast to our earlier analysis which pointed to the existence of a single mode at which slowdowns occur, in the neighborhood of $15,000–16,000 2005 purchasing power parity dollars, new data suggest the possibility of two modes, one at $10,000–11,000 and another at $15,000–16,000. A number of countries appear to have experienced two slowdowns, consistent with the existence of multiple modes. We suggest that growth in middle-income countries may slow down in a succession of stages rather than at a single point in time. This implies that a larger group of countries is at risk of a growth slowdown and that middle-income countries may find themselves slowing down at lower income levels than implied by our earlier estimates. We also find that slowdowns are less likely in countries where the population has a relatively high level of secondary and tertiary education and where high-technology products accounts for a relatively large share of exports, consistent with our earlier emphasis of the importance of moving up the technology ladder in order to avoid the middle-income trap.     

Market potential dynamics in innovation diffusion: Modelling the synergy between two driving forces

The presence of a slowdown in new product life cycles has recently received notable attention from many innovation diffusion scholars, who have tried to explain and model it on a dual-market hypothesis (early market-main market). In this paper we propose an alternative explanation for the slowdown pattern, a dual-effect hypothesis, based on a recent co-evolutionary model, where diffusion results from the synergy between two driving forces: communication and adoption. An analysis of the synergistic interaction between communication and adoption, based on the likelihood ratio order or on a weak stochastic order, can inform us of which of the two had a driving role in early diffusion. We test the model on the sales data of two pharmaceutical drugs presenting a slowdown in their life cycle and observe that this is identified almost perfectly by the model in both cases. Contrary to the general expectation, according to which communication should precede adoption, our findings show that adoptions may be the main driver in early life cycle; this may be related to the drug's specific nature.     

人才为何流向公共部门——减速期经济稳增长困境及人力资本错配含义

长期经济增长离不开公共部门提供的公共服务,但低效率的公共部门在减速过程中仍可以很好地生存,减速后果由生产性部门来消化,这将使人力资本进一步向无效率公共部门集中,导致人力资本错配,从而造成内生增长动力缺失。本文理论研究表明,在长期经济增长过程中,公共部门存在一个最优的人力资本配置比。借助OECD国家和中国例证也发现,如果公共部门人力资本配置偏离这个最优比例,将导致经济稳增长受阻。此外,相比美国、英国等OECD国家,中国公共部门人力资本强度较大,而生产性等市场化部门人力资本强度相对较小。当前中国经济正处在从要素投入驱动向创新驱动转换的时期,大量优秀人才配置到非市场的公共部门而非生产性部门,会给中国经济稳增长带来严重挑战。因此,本文的政策含义是,改变不利于经济减速时期能有效淘汰非效率部门的制度结构,引致人力资本进一步向生产性部门集中,优化人力资本配置,最大限度释放人力资本红利。