Since late March, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam have imposed further Covid-19 related restriction in responses to renewed concerns over case levels. This has attracted considerable attention and raised fears of a second wave of the virus sweeping through these countries. However, other than for Japan and Singapore, the increases have been...Read More

The Trump Administration’s furore over its trade standoff with an unyielding government in Beijing is rapidly evolving into an orchestrated series of targeted assaults on China’s corporate interests on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Washington’s most recent salvo involved calling in a favour from its close northern neighbour to assist in detaining Chinese telecoms...Read More

Bob Savic says having recently consolidated their power domestically, both leaders should have a freer hand to cooperate and advance common goals, among them a resolution of the North Korea nuclear stand-off. China’s 19th Communist Party Congress ended with the inclusion of President Xi Jinping’s name and political thought into the party’s constitution, elevating his status as a...Read More

The Japanese policy package known as “Abenomics” began in early 2013 with three major components – monetary, fiscal and structural reforms. This paper focuses on all three components, showing the measures undertaken by different authorities and exploring to what extent the whole package contributes to stimulating the economy; discussing existing current issues and difficulties that...Read More

This paper utilises long term data series on short-term Japanese interest rates to identify historical changes in interest rate behaviour. Japanese trajectories are then compared to those of key foreign short-term rates and their relationship examined using cointegration analysis to assess the impact of international financial integration. The findings suggest that lasting changes began in...Read More

Given the dimensions of the human tragedy that has unfolded in Japan since the earthquake struck on 11 March 2011, it is not surprising that the possible consequences for the rest of East and South East Asia have received comparatively little attention. Most commentators have followed the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in...Read More

Recent economic indicators of the performance of the Japanese economy have been weak and prognosis negative. In December Japanese industrial output contracted by 10%. In January this trend intensified. Moreover Toyota has announced 7,000 job losses and Honda a four month closure of their UK plant. Other labour market indicators and consumption related data suggest...Read More