The fiscal 2011 government white paper on the economy and state finances, issued July 22, analyzes economic conditions in the wake of the March 11 disasters. It calls for the creation of an economy resilient to crises and makes some policy proposals; however, the proposals are too general in the context of the post-disaster economy.
According to the white paper, Japan's potential gross domestic product (GDP), with the effect of price movements excluded, decreased by about ¥6 trillion in the first quarter of 2011 from the last quarter of 2011 — a drop of nearly 1 percent in real GDP. The drop was mainly due to the damage to economic supply chains and the power shortage caused by the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The white paper notes that the March 11 disasters' impact on the economy is much larger than was the impact of the Great Hanshin earthquake (1995), or of Hurricane Katrina (2005) on the U.S. economy. It also states that a mood of self-restraint and the nuclear fiasco have put a damper on consumer spending.