After arguably squandering his limited political capital on pursuing a controversial agenda for an expanded role for the military and re-starting nuclear plans, Japan’s Prime Minister has turned his attention back to the economy. He unveiled Abenomics 2.0.
Recall that Abenomics was the traditional LDP economic policy but ramped up. The LDP relied on easier fiscal and monetary policy and a weaker yen. It has pursued structural reforms, with varying degrees of success.
Abenomics originally had three goals: end deflation, strengthen current growth, and raise the long-term growth potential. By this simple criteria, Abenomics has largely failed to deliver the goods. Last week, Japan reported that core CPI (excluding fresh food) fell below zero for the first time since April 2013. BOJ’s Kuroda has already postponed when the 2.0% target will be reached, and he seems to be changing the definition of inflation to exclude energy as well.
The economy has contracted in three of the last five quarters. Over the past eight quarters, the world’s third largest economy has been stagnant. It is not clear that the structural reforms, associated with Abenomics third arrow, has boosted the potential growth rate. The most interesting reforms relate to corporate governance and the ascendancy of shareholder value. It is difficult to evaluate the consequences, as corporate Japan has seen profits boosted by the weaker yen, and the stock market lifted by BOJ purchases, pension fund diversification into equities, and share buyback programs.
In some ways, Abenomics 2.0 is necessary because Abenomics 1.0 has largely failed to deliver on its promises. Abenomics 2.0 is aimed at boosting potential growth. Like the first iteration, Abeonomics 2.0 also has three prongs or arrows.
The first is a new GDP goal. Abe announced a goal to lift the size of the economy to JPY600 trillion from the current JPY500 trillion. Abe did not suggest a time frame or particular measures to achieve the objective. Some suggested a 2018 goal, which is the end of the current Diet session though others suggest a 2020 target date. In any event, it will require more than doubling the pace of growth seen over the last couple of years. Note that the size of the economy is roughly what it was in 1995.
Leave A Comment