The crisis of the Japanese economy in the 90s: impacts of the speculative bubble

From 1953 to 1992, Japan reached the highest economic growth rates amongindustrialized countries. This performance was achieved despite two oil shocks and the endaka– the continuous rise of the yen vis-à-vis the dollar. This long-term growth cycle cameto a sudden halt in early 90’s. Japanese economy stagnated while other industrialized countriescontinued growing. This was mainly due to the “economic bubkle” burst. From 1990to 1992, the value of urban land and of the stock market index were cut to almost half. Asa result, Japanese banks accumulated US$ 800 billion performing assets. This paper intendsto analyse the Japanese “bubble economy crisis” and its long-term impacts on the Japaneseeconomy, on its financial system and on its bilateral relations with the United States. JEL Classification: F65; F62; N15.