The 1990s in Japan: A Lost Decade

Does Restructuring Pay in Japan? Evidence Following the Lost Decade

After over a decade of sluggish economic growth accompanied by massive fiscal stimulus and government handouts (not unlike the response to the current global crisis) in the 1990s, it remains an open question whether and how Japanese firms have restructured their operations, and whether these efforts have borne any fruit. The popular consensus is that Japanese companies did start to implement to...

Lending to Unhealthy Firms in Japan During the Lost Decade: Distinguishing between Technical and Financial Health

We investigate the misallocation of credit in Japan associated with banks’ evergreening loans, distinguishing between two types of firm distress: (perhaps temporary) financial distress and technical distress, which reflects weak operational capabilities, as indicated by low total factor productivity. We show that previous evidence related to firms’ financial health is problematic...

Globalisation , Multinationals and Productivity in Japan ’ s Lost Decade November 2009

Discussion of Productivity: The Lost Decade

The paper by Saul Eslake provides a thorough discussion of issues relating to productivity growth in Australia over the 2000s. Following a brief discussion of why productivity is important, the paper provides evidence of a fairly broad-based slowing in multifactor productivity growth across a range of countries over the 2000s, but argues that this slowing has been more pronounced in Australia. ...

Obesity Drug Update: The Lost Decade?

The growing worldwide obesity epidemic and obesity-related disorders present a huge unmet medical need for safe and effective anti-obesity medications. The discovery of leptin in 1994 was rapidly succeeded by a wave of related discoveries leading to the elaboration of a hypothalamic melanocortinergic neuronal circuit regulated by leptin and other central and peripheral signaling molecules to co...