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A well-functioning labour market is essential to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of population ageing. Priorities are to reverse the rising share of non-regular workers, which has negative implications for both growth and equity, and encourage greater employment of women and youth, who are under-represented in the labour force. Attracting more women to employment requires increasing the availability of childcare, strengthening maternity leave and creating more family-friendly workplaces. Youth employment rates should be boosted by upgrading tertiary education through stronger competition and closer links to enterprises to reduce mismatches. Educational reform should be extended to elementary and secondary schools to enhance efficiency and decrease the burden of private tutoring. The age of retirement of employees should be raised by eliminating mandatory retirement and phasing out the retirement allowance. Active labour market policies should focus on policies to expand human capital rather than wage subsidies.

Economics --- Korea, Republic of

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The crisis that originated in mid-2007 in the United States and deepened in September 2008 is the largest peace-time disruption of financial markets since the Great Depression. It was triggered by a number of factors, namely the large amount of lending to subprime borrowers, the expansion of securitisation resulting in a disconnect between loan originators and final investors, the questionable assessments of credit rating agencies and the unprecedented resort to off-balance sheet vehicles. These developments took place during a traditional credit boom and reinforced the skyrocketing of asset prices, erosion of lending standards and under-pricing of risk. The crisis had serious repercussions worldwide, particularly in Europe, given the global nature of financial markets. This paper begins by considering why the Japanese banking system was initially relatively resilient to the deterioration in the global financial system, although there were some secondary effects that are discussed in the following section. The third section outlines the emergency response of the Japanese authorities to the financial crisis, including quantitative measures by the central bank and other institutions and regulatory changes by the Financial Services Agency (FSA). At the same time, the authorities have taken steps to improve the regulatory framework. The fourth section goes beyond the crisis to consider policies to boost chronically low profitability in the banking sector. Measures to promote efficiency in the financial sector by upgrading capital markets and improving the range and quality of financial products are discussed in the following section.

Economics

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Tax reform is an urgent priority, as Japan needs as much as 5% to 6% of GDP of additional government revenue just to stabilise public debt, which has risen to 180% of GDP. In addition to raising revenue, tax reform should promote economic growth, address the deterioration in income distribution and improve the local tax system. Additional revenue should be obtained primarily by increasing the consumption tax rate, currently the lowest in the OECD area, while broadening the personal and corporate income tax bases. The corporate tax rate, now the highest in the OECD area, should be cut to promote growth, while eliminating aspects of the tax system which discourage labour supply and distort the allocation of capital. Japan should also consider introducing an Earned Income Tax Credit to promote equity. The local tax system should be simplified, increasing reliance on existing taxes on property, income and consumption.

Economics --- Japan

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Economic assistance, Japanese --- Financial crises --- Investments, Japanese --- Developing countries --- Japan --- Commerce --- Economic conditions.

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The intensification of the global financial crisis in late 2008 led to large capital outflows from Korea and turmoil in its capital markets. However, the prompt response by the government and the central bank stabilised Korea’s financial sector in early 2009 and recovery followed relatively quickly. In contrast to 1997, financial institutions have overcome the crisis without significant damage. Increased assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises has played a large role in overcoming the crisis, but should be scaled back to avoid supporting non-viable firms and to expand banks’ capacity for risk appraisal, leading to a more market-oriented financial system. As a small open economy, Korea also needs to reduce its vulnerability to sudden capital outflows. In addition, it is important to use prudential regulations effectively to limit the risk of mortgage lending, upgrade the corporate governance of financial institutions and develop securitisation by ensuring transparency.

Economics --- Korea, Republic of