Analysis and perspective of Abenomics, the economic proposal of Shinzo Abe

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the status of current Japanese economy and the policy responses implemented by prime minister Shinzo Abe. With this purpose, the article starts with the opening and industrialization process of Japan at the end of 19th century, and with the economic and political reforms undertaken since the U. S. occupation. These reforms started a transformation process that laid out the foundation for the Land of the Rising Sun to consolidate as the world’s third largest economy in the second half of the 20th century. Subsequently it is explained how the japanese miracle was interrupted by the 1973 oil crisis and the yen’s appreciation, making room for a new series of reforms aimed to financial liberalization whose design miscalculation led to the financial bubble which would burst in 1989. The subsequent crisis involved harsh economic and political consequences that the following governments, one after another would try to battle with no success so far. In a context of economic stagnation, chronic fiscal deficit, having the largest public debt among the industrialized economies, and a progressive aging of population, Shinzo Abe comes to power in 2012, with the ambitious economic policy discussed in this text. Finally, the paper outlines the results achieved thus far, and sets out a series of questions and perspectives to be considered