Japan's Economy Shows Limits of Keynesian Policies

In 1997, the SE Asian Tigers all faced severe economic stresses, partially triggered by a primarily foreign capital-funded massive real estate bubble in Thailand. Today the EXACT same thing is happening as untempered foreign investment into Thailand’s real estate market has created not a “soaring” real estate market as economists always incorrectly explain them, but massive real estate market distortions better known as a bubble.

Daryl Montgomery submits: The Nikkei closed at 8995 last night, 77% below its final price in December 1989. The rising value of the yen is what is causing the stock market drop. The yen just hit a 15-year high against the dollar and 9-year high against the euro. A richly valued yen is a big negative for Japan's export-based economy.

By Peter Boone and Simon Johnson Bubbles are back as a topic of serious discussion, as they were before the financial crisis.  The questions are: (1) can you spot bubbles, (2) can policymakers do anything to deflate them gently, and (3) can anyone make money when bubbles get out of control?

"You think things are bad here - you should see Japan!" For policy makers grappling with the financial crisis, Japan has long been the cautionary tale. It still is, and not just for the reasons that you think. This week's surprise moves by the Bank of Japan tell us how uncomfortable it can get for a central bank trying to combat deflation - when the government is running up a mountain of debt.

There are two broad views on our newly resurgent global bubbles – the increase in asset prices in emerging markets, fuelled by capital inflows, with all the associated bells and whistles (including dollar depreciation).  These run-ups in stock market values and real estate prices are either benign or the beginnings of a major new malignancy.

Bernanke should brush aside the babbling barons of bubbleism, and get on with doing his job Bubbles can be bad for your financial health — and bad for the health of the economy, too. The dot-com bubble of the late 1990s left behind many vacant buildings and many more failed dreams. When the housing bubble of the next decade burst, the result was the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s — a crisis from which we have yet to emerge.

Following today's dismal GDP print, the massive ongoing borrowing being undertaken by our government, and the Bernankian policies which appear inescapable (and entirely ineffective for anything but the market), we thought Ken Rogoff's recent op-ed from the FT was extremely appropriate. Authored by Ken Rogoff, originally posted at The FT,

Authored by Andrew McKillop,