Within weeks of taking office a decade ago, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda launched his "shock and awe” stimulus targeting a return to steady 2% inflation in around two years. As his tenure ends, the original time horizon remains largely that — something within sight but out of reach.
Through 10 years of experimental policy that rewrote the rules of global central banking, Kuroda’s BOJ forked out ¥1.55 quadrillion ($11.7 trillion) on bonds, stock funds and corporate debt.
Deflation was tamed but not vanquished; businesses were kept afloat and zombie companies plodded on; workers kept their jobs even as productivity flatlined; the government funded vast spending programs and the deficit deepened; and the economy eked out modest expansions, though only Italy grew slower among major economies.