Macroeconomics Of Japan Essay Example for Free

Macroeconomics Of Japan Essay Japan is the greatest economy in Asia, in terms of GDP, as well as human resources and technology. The nation was once predicted to be the next superpower nation exceeding the United Sates and countries of the European Union. Today, it is the world’s third-largest economy after the United States and People’s Republic of China. It is also the second-largest economy by real GDP and market exchange rates. The economy is highly efficient and competitive especially in the services industry, which is originated from a good cooperation between the government and the industry, a strong work ethic and the mastery of high technology. Recent analysis however, revealed that the economy is currently under serious problems. Observers and even Japan’s own officials have admitted that the economy is no longer ‘first class’. There are even worries that Japan has no longer sustain the capacity to be one of the world’s greatest economies anymore, and the economy will slowly degrade into one of the typical Asian economies. Analysts stated that such an occurrence has happened before, when Argentina which were once considered one of the strongest economies in the world degraded into typical third world economies today. Is this the case with Japan? In this paper I am discussing the problems that stayed within Japan’s economy and elaborating their probable causes. Afterwards, I will elaborate the macroeconomic policies which have been performed by the Japanese government in response to these issues and how these policies have affected the economy. The period of discussion is 1997 -2007, which are the years after the ‘Japan economic bubble’ bursts, to the present day. II. Japan Economic Issues 1997-2007 II. 1. Background of the Issues – Japan Economic Bubble Japanese growth rates have been nothing less than spectacular for decades. In the 60’s the average real economic growth rate was 10%, in the 70’s it was 5% and in the 80’s it was 4%. Japanese financial system however, was based on a bureaucratic fiat. The government believes that by injecting sufficient amount of capital into the market, the economy will experience a rapid rate of growth. Thus, the financial system was set to inject cheap capital into the business sector (Hamada, 2004). In support of this policy, banks even reluctant to report –in bad loans. In short, companies were encouraged to borrow and expand continuously. Companies would then borrow using assets like land and then invest the money into the stock market. After the market rises, the company would have latent profits which will be used to buy more land and therefore, the cycle continues. These cycles were the origins of the huge real estate and stock market bubbles. These bubbles however, cannot be sustained forever, and when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised interests rates, the bubble bursts in 1989 and leaving commercial banks in Japan with a mountain of bad loans. II. 2. Stagnant Economic Growth Afterwards, assets prices began to decline rapidly. Japan’s economy was going through a long period of deflation since then, partly caused by the appreciation of yen. Because of this appreciation, the CPI increase rate dropped into negative in 1995. The expanding deflation caused Japan’s economy to remain in a static condition. Moreover, the deepening deflation was accompanied with weakening state of real economy like growth rates declines and increased unemployment rates. Between 1992 and 1994, real growth rates are below 1%. It even dropped toward a negative range in 1998. Jobless rate have also suffered a rise of 3. 4 % from 2 % in 1990 to 5. 4% in 2003. The economic downsizing in 1997 put Japanese economy into a new state of deflation (Oliver, 2002). II. 3. Deflationary Trap It was not considered serious until the inflation rate slipped to below zero in 1997. In this phase, observers believed that Japan was in a ‘deflationary trap’. However, because of various long-term considerations, the government has implemented policies to maintain inflation stable near the zero mark. In this situation however, the central bank cannot use its traditional instruments to deal with the issue. As a result, deflation deepens even further and the market intensified expectations toward further and longer period of deflation. Due to the increase in real rate of interest, consumer spending and corporate investments were discouraged. Unfortunately, the shrinking total demand in the macro economy further worsen the deflation. If not dealt with accordingly, this could lead into self-sustaining deflationary process (Campbell, 1992).

“Is technology tearing apart family life? Essay examples -- Technolog

â€Å"Is technology tearing apart family life? Text messaging, social networking, and online video are changing the way parents and children see the world—and each other.† There are many technologies in today’s ‘smart’ world which are now being established not just as a want, but as a necessity of life. Among many technologies that can impact family life, Smartphones and computers are the two most crucial technologies that can impact family life. The functions of computers and Smartphones are not just bounded to internet surfing, gaming and assignment tools, but its variety of other functions including social networking systems, online mailing, and online face-to-face video chatting are now arguably the most critical functions that have started to impact family lives on a visible level. These technologies have both positive and negative effects on family life; more and more families are beginning to own their own computers, as computer internet users in North America reached to about â€Å"78.3 %† (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2011), accordingly, the effects of these technologies on family life is more easily recogni zed. This essay will come across both the benefits and negative effects of using such technologies on family life and ultimately see out whether the positives triumph over the negatives. There are the negative effects of using computer technologies: the isolation of family members, parents bringing their work home. On the other hand, the positives include: being able to associate more easily with the use of social networking systems between relatives and family members that live away from each other. Family members get more and more isolated by the use of computer technologies. For most North American families, ... ...eting Group (March 31, 2011). World Internet Usage and Population Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm 4. Small, G. (June 19, 2009). Is Technology Fracturing Your Family. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-bootcamp/200906/is-technology-fracturing-your-family. 5. Stevens, J.B. (June 21, 2011). Guest Post::Social Media and Divorces-Examining the Impact of Facebook and Twitter on Relationships. Retrieved from http://www.scfamilylaw.com/2011/06/articles/divorce/guest-post-social-media-and-divorces-examining-the-impact-of-facebook-and-twitter-on-relationships/ 6. Warren, L. (May 31, 2011). Video games being blamed for divorce as men ‘prefer World of Warcraft to their wives’. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392561/World-Warcraft-video-games-blamed-divorce-men-prefer-wives.html

Harmony and Dream

David Brooks essays his role as the NY Times premiere conservative columnist in a very unique way: he disregards conservatism. Now, regardless of where one’s opinions may rest when it comes to political ideologies, neither a liberal, moderate, or conservative would recognize Brooks’ writings as being conservative in any form. Actually, most of his writing is often self-centered and incoherent. This is most evident in the extremely obtuse article â€Å"Harmony and the Dream† which supposedly promotes the qualities of modern China and urges the United States to follow in its footsteps.The reason the word â€Å"supposedly† is used here is because Brooks’ writings display a complete lack of understanding of both modern China and its history. Actually, it also displays a fundamental understanding of what makes America’s infrastructure work. Consider the following excerpt, â€Å"If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim. † What type of silliness is this assessment? Ask a Chinese person? Does this mean every single person who lives in China will share the same opinion?Such an assessment infers that â€Å"China† consists of a homogenous entity of like minded people. This is an absurd notion and indicative of a fundamental lack of understanding of Chinese history and culture. The notion of collective thought may be â€Å"line† of the rulers of the Chinese Communist Party, but it is not the philosophy that the totality of China’s population prescribes. Also, Brooks infers that the collectivism of communist China somehow has a noble trait to it. It would seem Brooks points out that collectivism leads to some eternal group salvation.He even faults the common American tradition of liberty. This is evidenced in his statement â€Å"The individualistic countries tend to put rights and privacy first. People in these societies ten d to overvalue their own skills and overestimate their own importance to any group effort. † Such a statement ignores the fact that Chinese communist rule is little more than totalitarianism by committee. Really, China embodies many of the qualities of a police state. Even by collectivist standards, China is extreme.In fact, if you were to examine other nations that promote strong centralized government control you will not see the repression found in China. Venezuela, for example, prescribes to Marxist ideologies but it does not use the state to sponsor murdering prisoners to sell their organs on the world market. China’s government has engaged in this type of activity – and other insane human rights violations – for years. To hint that the United States (or any nation) should look to China as an example of how to model their society is absurd.Yes, China possesses an exploding economy many nation envy. But, how did China arrive at such an expanded economy ? Largely though paying laborers extremely low wages with no worker protections. This is certainly not the type of society to emulate even though Brooks suggests as much. The main problem with Brooks is assertion is that he does not examine the flaws present in China’s infrastructure. For example, he praises China’s economy but fails to mention the extreme pollution caused by China’s industry.The pollution poured in the air by many factories is so voluminous that it surely will have a serious, negative effect on the population’s health. This brings about an important question: what is the value of a booming economy if it ultimately reduces the quality of people’s lives. This is one of the many questions Brooks does not address. This (among other reasons) is why â€Å"Harmony and the Dream† remains an incredibly flawed article. Bibliography Brooks, D. (2008, August 11) â€Å"Harmony and the Dream. † NY TIMES. 11 August 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/08/12/opinion/ 12brooks. html

Have You Ever Noticed That You Have Never Seen An Exact

Have you ever noticed that you have never seen an exact copy of yourself? The only things you ve seen are pictures, reflections, or from looking at yourself in a reflection; the man or woman in the mirror. There have been times when people have noticed something on your face and your first reaction would be is to say where/what? or look at a reflection. What if there was something you couldn t see, because it was mental instead of physical. Something that is irritating, and at sometimes you couldn t even hide it. You can smile and act fine, but can you really mask a mental illness? In this case, we will be talking about depression. Go ahead and look at a mirror, or now with the advancement of technology, you can use your smart phone†¦show more content†¦While sadness is only defined by Dictionary.com as affected by unhappiness or grief (Dictionary). Yes, sadness can eventually lead to depression, but being sad is not characterized as being an illness, unless it is SAD or Sea sonal Affective Disorder. Depression is not just categorized into one group, but there are multiple types of depression. One example is Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is most commonly diagnosed in winter months and areas such as Alaska when there is less or even no sunlight. Others include Major Depressive disorder, which is described as the symptoms in the definition; persistent depressive disorder, which is depression that lasts two or more years; Manic depression or bipolar disorder; postpartum depression in mothers after childbirth, and more. Depression can also be related to other mental illnesses, because a few of the symptoms can be from a combination of other disorders such as stress or anxiety. Depression is a mental disorder, so there needs to be a more understanding and treatments such as advice being happy. You can be happy, but still be depressed at the same time; depression is not a mood, depression is an illness. Depression should be treated seriously, from mild t o major, just as if it were any other illness or disease. If not treated, it can lead to suicide. There are constant and ongoing studies on how the brainShow MoreRelatedWatching Milo Murphy s Law1154 Words   |  5 PagesPhineas and Ferb fan, I really enjoyed it, since there are many jokes and easter eggs hidden in Milo Murphy that date back to Phineas and Ferb. But, just three episodes in, I began to devise a theory. Maybe it s too early in the show to tell, but I have a pretty bold theory, and I m prepared to back it up. My theory: Melissa Chase is Candace s Sister At first glance, this theory seems impossible. So rather than try to explain my theory all at once, I ll explain the answers to different argumentsRead MoreShort Story: Carte Blanche698 Words   |  3 Pagesramp and into the park. 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