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The International Studies Association would like to announce the upcoming talk by Professor Hiroaki Richard Watanabe - titled “Japan’s Economic Stagnation” - scheduled at 16:20-17:50 on Wednesday, January 22

渡辺先生学会研究会

The International Studies Association would like to announce the upcoming talk by Professor Hiroaki Richard Watanabe - titled “Japan’s Economic Stagnation” - scheduled at 16:20-17:50 on Wednesday, January 22 at the Koshinkan Building (KS305).

Abstract
In this talk, Professor Watanabe will examine the causes of Japan’s economic stagnation since the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. He will investigate the characteristics of monetary policy - especially that of Abenomics, fiscal policy, and structural reform aimed at enhancing economic efficiency, including digitalization, as well as the role of labor unions in wage determination. This talk will clarify how Abenomics’ monetary policy and the interest group politics of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) contributed to the weakening of the Japanese economy and how the LDP’s structural reforms have been inadequate in some areas and insufficient in others. Professor Watanabe will also examine how Japanese labor unions have contributed to wage stagnation in the last three decades, compared to the unions’ roles in this respect in other countries.