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Begin New Search Political Geography East Asia Publication Year within 25 Years

291. The Difficulties of Discerning What's Too Tight: Taylor Rules and Japanese Monetary Policy

Author:
Adam S. Posen and Kenneth N. Kuttner
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Observers have relied increasingly on simple reaction functions, such as the Taylor rule, to assess the conduct of monetary policy. Applying this approach to deflationary or near-zero inflation environments is problematic, however, and this paper examines two shortcomings of particular relevance to the Japanese case of the last decade. One is the unusually high degree of uncertainty associated with potential output in an environment of prolonged stagnation and deflation. Consequently, reaction function-based assessments of Japanese monetary policy are so sensitive to the chosen gauge of potential output as to be unreliable. The second shortcoming is the neglect of policy expectations, which become critically important as nominal interest rates approach zero. Using long-term bond yields, we identify five episodes since 1996 characterized by abrupt declines in Japanese inflation expectations. Policies undertaken by the Bank of Japan during this period did little to stabilize expectations, and the August 2000 interest rate increase appears to have intensified deflationary concerns.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

292. Famine and Reform in North Korea

Author:
Marcus Noland
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) or North Korea has been experiencing an ongoing food crisis for more than a decade. A famine in the late 1990s resulted in the deaths of perhaps 600,000 to 1 million people out of a pre-famine population of roughly 22 million. Since then, a combination of humanitarian food aid and development assistance has ameliorated the situation somewhat, but according to the World Food Programme (WFP) and other observers, as of this writing the country is once again on the precipice of another famine.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Non-Governmental Organization, Nuclear Weapons, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Israel, East Asia, North Korea, and Korea

293. Revitalizing the Economies of Japan and the United States

Author:
C. Fred Bergsten
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The United States and Japan are the two largest national economies in the world. Since the early 1990s, they have been moving in opposite directions. The United States enjoyed an expansion of record duration from the end of the Gulf War in 1991 until early 2001, growing much faster than any other G-7 country and much faster than it had at any time since the Second World War. Japan's economy, by contrast, has been virtually stagnant since its financial bubble burst in the early 1990s and has clearly experienced its worst performance since its recovery from the ravages of the Pacific War.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Israel, and East Asia

294. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime

Author:
Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
Topic:
Environment and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia

295. The Trezise Symposium on the Japanese Economy

Author:
Edward J. Lincoln
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The Japanese economy has undergone a decade of sluggish growth marked by three recessions, including the current one. This time, recession is accompanied by general price deflation, a situation unprecedented among industrialized nations since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Meanwhile, the financial sector sits on a rising mountain of bad loans. A serious financial crisis and deeper recession are real possibilities.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, and East Asia

296. From Keiretsu to Startups: Japan's Push for High Tech Entrepreneurship

Author:
Henry Rowen and A. Maria Toyoda
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
How much does it matter that Japan creates relatively few new high technology companies? Many observers estimate, or at least assume, that entrepreneurial dynamism and its associated innovations promote economic growth and in the long run are necessary for it. In recent years there has been much attention devoted to fostering such new firms in many countries, including Japan, with much of this interest derived from the example of Silicon Valley. Before the 1990s, after several decades of excellent performance by the Japanese industry, any observer noting that it had few new high tech companies would probably have met with indifference. Success spoke for itself. Now, after an economic plateau lasting over a decade, questions about the late and relatively small-scale emergence of high tech startups have become increasingly salient.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

297. Inaugural Oksenberg Lecture: The United States and China: A President's Perspective. An address by Jimmy Carter

Author:
Jimmy Carter
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
The Oksenberg Lectures honor the legacy of Professor Michel Oksenberg (1938–2001), Senior Fellow at the Asia/Pacific Research Center, professor of political science, and a foremost authority on China.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

298. Foreign Penetration of Japan's Investment-Banking Market: Will Japan Experience the "Wimbledon Effect"?

Author:
Nicole Pole
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Foreign banks have long faced difficulties in attempting to enter certain Japanese financial markets. This is due partly to regulatory practices and partly to specific Japanese socioeconomic conditions, for instance the system of relationship banking. While retail banking is still a sector in which almost no foreigners have been able to succeed, some foreign financial institutions have been able to gain market share in investment and wholesale banking.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

299. On the Edge: Shaping the Future of Peri-urban East Asia

Author:
Douglas Webster
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
The term peri-urbanization refers to a process in which rural areas located on the outskirts of established cities become more urban in character, in physical, economic, and social terms, often in piecemeal fashion. Peri-urban development usually involves rapid social change as small agricultural communities are forced to adjust to an urban or industrial way of life in a very short time. High levels of migration are an important driver of social change. Rapid environmental deterioration; large-scale, often haphazard, land conversion; and infrastructure backlogs are major policy challenges associated with peri-urbanizing regions. Typically, peri-urbanization is stimulated by an infusion of new investment, generally from outside the local region in question, including foreign direct investment (FDI).
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
East Asia

300. Cosmopolitan Cities and Nation States: Open Economics,Urban Dynamics, and Government in East Asia

Author:
Thomas P. Rohlen
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
This essay is about the pivotal role cities play in the current pattern of social, cultural, and political change in East Asia. Its starting premise is that the postwar era of nation state building and state-led change is ending and a different era—one that centers on global capitalism and new technological capacities—has been steadily emerging in the region over the last several decades. At the vortex of these new forces we find big, successful cities. In such cities, the forces of capitalism, cultural cosmopolitanism, and new technologies combine critically in a turbulent and heady new mix. As a result, while the effectiveness of state initiatives decreases, and government is under pressure to reform, privatize, and decentralize, the dynamic (and typically coastal) cities of East Asia are the center of powerful economic and cultural forces for change, and the source of alternative political agendas. Simultaneously, due to their rapid expansion, these cities have also become the locus of giant new problems for public management.
Topic:
Government, International Political Economy, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
East Asia and Asia