La eficacia de las políticas monetaria y fiscal en Japón

From the early nineteen-nineties, Japan has registered an unprecedented economic slump in its recent history. After having adopted various measures to favour the recovery of Japanese economy, the second in importance in the world, this recovery does not take place. It is in this context of frustration that there have been polemics on the presumed inefficiency of the traditional policies (monetary and fiscal) to stimulate demand. The analysis of this controversy is, precisely, the object of the present article. In the area of the monetary policy two analysis periods are considered, around the appearance in 1995 of the first deflationist episode. There are confronting positions on the subject. On the one hand, most of the authors consider that the monetary stimulus, though meaningful, was insufficient. On the other hand, there are also authors that defend the policy carried out by the Bank of Japan and underline structural factors as origin of the long period of Japanese economic stagnation. In the present article the author analyses both positions in detail. In the second part of the article, the author approaches the subject of the efficiency of fiscal policy during the same period. After detailing the measures taken, he has various considerations on the direction of fiscal impulses and the sustainability of the enormous public debt generated in these years.