TY - BOOK ID - 117338434 TI - Taming Japan's Deflation : The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy AU - Park, Gene, AU - Chiozza, Giacomo, AU - Katada, Saori N., PY - 2018 SN - 1501728180 9781501728181 1501728172 1501728199 PB - Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Banks and banking, Central KW - Deflation (Finance) KW - Monetary policy KW - Banker's banks KW - Banks, Central KW - Central banking KW - Central banks KW - Banks and banking KW - Disinflation KW - Finance KW - Nihon Ginkō. KW - Bank of Japan KW - Japan. KW - Nichigin KW - Nippon Ginkō KW - 日本銀行 KW - Japan KW - Economic policy KW - E-books UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:117338434 AB - Bolder economic policy could have addressed the persistent bouts of deflation in post-bubble Japan, write Gene Park, Saori N. Katada, Giacomo Chiozza, and Yoshiko Kojo in Taming Japan's Deflation. Despite warnings from economists, intense political pressure, and well-articulated unconventional policy options to address this problem, Japan's central bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), resisted taking the bold actions that the authors believe would have significantly helped.With Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's return to power, Japan finally shifted course at the start of 2013 with the launch of Abenomics-an economic agenda to reflate the economy-and Abe's appointment of new leadership at the BOJ. As Taming Japan's Deflation shows, the BOJ's resistance to experimenting with bolder policy stemmed from entrenched policy ideas that were hostile to activist monetary policy. The authors explain how these policy ideas evolved over the course of the BOJ's long history and gained dominance because of the closed nature of the broader policy network.The explanatory power of policy ideas and networks suggests a basic inadequacy in the dominant framework for analysis ofthe politics of monetary policy derived from the literature on central bank independence. This approach privileges the interaction between political principals and their supposed agents, central bankers; but Taming Japan's Deflation shows clearly that central bankers' views, shaped by ideas and institutions, can be decisive in determining monetary policy. Through a combination of institutional analysis, quantitative empirical tests, in-depth case studies, and structured comparison of Japan with other countries, the authors show that, ultimately, the decision to adopt aggressive monetary policy depends largely on the bankers' established policy ideas and policy network. ER -