Japan project meeting.

• Position: Conference held on October 29 to 30, 1998

Members and guests of the NBER's Japan Project gathered in Tokyo on October 29-30. Organizers Fumio Hayashi of NBER and Tokyo University, Takatoshi Ito of NBER and Hitotsubashi University, and Anil K Kashyap of NBER and the University of Chicago, chose these papers for discussion:

Tamim Bayoumi, International Monetary Fund, "The Morning After: Explaining the Slowdown in Japanese Growth in the 1990s"

Discussant: Valerie A. Ramey, NBER and University of California, San Diego

Peter Jarrett, OECD, "The Japanese Recession: What Caused It and What to Do About It"

Discussant: Hugh Patrick, Columbia University

Takako Idee, Seikei University; Kiyohiko Nishimura, University of Tokyo; Toshiaki Watanabe, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Fukuju Yamazaki, Sophia University, "The Myth of Land in the Land of Many Myths: What Brought Japanese Land Prices Up So High in the 1980s and Made Them Nosedive in the 1990s?"

Discussant: John V. Leahy; NBER and Boston University

Joe Peek, Boston College, and Eric Rosengren, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, "Determinants of the Japan Premium: Actions Speak Louder Than Words"

Discussant: Takeo Hoshi, University of California, San Diego

Michael Hutchison and Kathleen McDill, University of California, Santa Cruz, "Determinants, Costs, and Duration of Banking Sector Distress: The Japanese Experience in International Comparison"

Discussant: Robert Aliber, University of Chicago

Albert Ando, NBER and University of Pennsylvania, "Demographic Dynamics and Causes of the Japanese Recession"

Discussant: Masaru Yoshitomi, LTCB Research Institute

Taizo Motonishi and Hiroshi Yoshikawa, University of Tokyo, "Causes of the Long Stagnation of Japan During the 1990s: Financial or Real?

Discussant: Paul Beaudry, NBER and University of British Columbia

Katsunori Watanabe, Takayuki Watanabe, and Tsutomu Watanabe, Bank of Japan, "Tax Policy and Consumer Spending: Evidence from Japanese Fiscal Experiments"

Discussant: Alan J. Auerbach, NBER and University of California, Berkeley

Bayoumi investigates four possible explanations for the extended slump in Japanese economic activity in the 1990s: the absence of bold and consistent fiscal stimulus; the limited room for expansionary monetary policy because of a liquidity trap; asset price deflation reflecting the long-term problems caused by overinvestment, inadequate returns on saving, and debt overhang; and disruption of financial intermediation. His results indicate that all of these factors...