Suchergebnisse

Introduction: The 2000 election was a wake-up call for America, demonstrating the vulnerability of the democratic process to breakdowns of voting technology, election law, and election administration. It shamed states and the federal government into action, yielding, in its most expansive (and expensive) manifestation, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.1 HAVA contained many provisions; the one that most concretely addressed the Florida recount controversy required states to phase out mechanical lever machines and punch card voting. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars were authorized to underwrite this requirement.

Macroeconomic analysis of the 1990s. High growth in the past -- The 1990s -- Demand or supply? -- What type of demand? -- The "abnormality" of demand fluctuations -- Investment -- Investment to increase production capacity, and stock adjustment -- The recovery of 1995-1996 -- The fiscal policy error of 1997 -- The prolonged consumption slump -- Bad debts and the Japanese economy. Money supply and the credit crunch -- The bubble and bad debts: banks -- The bubble and bad debts: firms -- The background to the real estate boom -- Monetary policy and prudential policy -- The credit crunch of 1997-1998 -- Exchange rates. The fixed exchange rate system and the floating exchange rate system -- The determination of foreign exchange rates: short-run, mid-run, and long-run -- Purchasing power parity -- The pre-war Japanese economy -- The appreciation of the yen over the past 25 years -- Theories blaming the high yen for Japan's economic doldrums -- Japan's manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries. Small and medium firms, and the self-employed -- An historical turning-point -- The agriculture -- Structural stagnation -- The labor market in the "ice age." Japan's rising unemployment rate -- The mismatch in labor market -- Labor mobility -- Underemployment -- The risk of falling into a deflationary spiral -- The aging of society and fiscal policy. Ill-advised fiscal reconstruction -- The alleged burden of debt -- The national burden ratio -- The social security -- Structural reform -- The future. Has Japan's potential growth rate actually declined? -- Demand and economic growth -- Japan's lost decade: what have we learned and where are we heading? The Japanese economy of the 1990s -- What must be done? -- The Japanese economy during the 1990s -- Macroeconomics policies -- Fiscal policy -- Monetary policy -- Japan's potential growth: The importance of demand-creating innovation