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November 22, 2024
 

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Michael Spence
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2015
Automation doesn't always improve productivity
Common sense says a business that invests in automation will be more productive, but the statistics tell a different story.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2015
Letting China's bubble burst
If Chinese regulators allow the stock market to correct, institutional investors with a long-term value orientation will ultimately step in, enhancing the market's stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2015
China's new international growth agenda
China now has a strategy to ensure its economic transformation benefits other countries in Asia and beyond.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2015
China's slowing new normal
Beijing must do what it takes to ensure that any further slowdown in China's economy is not viewed as secular trend.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2015
Public investment can bring sustainable growth
The best way to avoid the risk of an extended period of weak economic growth is to fuel productivity growth by improving human capital and innovation through properly targeted public investment.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2014
Reforming China's 'commanding heights'
Xi's effort to root out corruption has empowered both the party and the reformers. The question is how far they will take their reform ambitions.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2014
Europe could jump-start a sustained recovery
Europe has a real chance to conclude a bargain if member countries implement fiscal and structural reforms in exchange for short-run relaxation of fiscal constraints focusing on growth-oriented investments.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2014
The difference between good and bad equality
The 'old' theory about inequality was that redistribution via the tax system weakened incentives and undermined economic growth. But the relationship between inequality and growth is far more complex and multi-dimensional than this simple trade-off suggests.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2014
Regional security deficits threaten economic growth
Political insecurity, potential conflict and deteriorating international relations pose a greater threat to global economic progress than the post-2008 financial crisis debate foresaw.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2014
Rebooting China to a different growth model
China has no choice but to change its growth model by pursuing a balanced program of high-return investment, high-value government services and a higher level of household consumption.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2014
New digital technology wave replacing labor
People scrambling to keep up with digital technologies need to know that the world we are entering is one in which the most powerful global flows will be ideas and digital capital — not goods, services and traditional capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2014
Tradable gains in Spain rain hope for recovery
Though domestic investment is constrained by credit availability, major European and Latin American multinationals have begun investing in the Spanish economy, attracted by its enhanced competitive posture, structural flexibility and recovery in domestic demand.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2014
An economy resilient to political dysfunction
Recent analysis shows there is little correlation between America's highly publicized political dysfunction and its relative economic performance in serveral dimensions.
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2013
The distributional challenge
Assessing the recent past and looking forward to the near term may well be a necessary exercise when it comes to the global economy in 2013 and 2014.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2013
America's reckless financial policy
The U.S. pattern of decision making (or nondecision making) on debt deadlines has already created additional risk and will surely be reflected in upward pressure on interest rates.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2013
It's now decision time for the global economy
Think of the U.S. economy as an eight-cylinder engine running on five amid fiscal consolidation, public-sector investment shortfalls and the normalization of part-time work.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2013
End of China's exuberance
Chinese authorities' acceptance so far of a slowdown in economic growth is a good sign of investment opportunities ahead that were absent in the more exuberant past.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2013
The Sino-American decade
Beyond the bilateral benefits, the rest of the global economy depends on Chinese and U.S. leadership — in terms of growth and global economic coordination.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2013
Obama budget recognizes economic tradeoffs
President Barack Obama's proposed U.S. budget addresses a range of hard political and social choices/tradeoffs for the first time in the postcrisis period.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2013
Divergence of policies in Europe, Italian style
Even if the eurozone's structure is modified to achieve the desired level of fiscal discipline, countries will continue to diverge in other important respects.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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