Keyword: Japan

Gerstenberger, Juliane; Schnabl, Gunther

Abstract

Gunther Schnabl and Juliane Gerstenberger analyse the impact of the Bank of Japan’s low-interest rate policy on the banking sector in the wake of the 1998 Japanese financial crisis. They provide evidence that the Japanese monetary policy has contributed to declining efficiency in the banking sector, despite – or possibly because of – the increasing concentration within this sector.

Keywords: Banking Sector, City Banks, concentration, Crisis Management, Japan, Monetary policy, regional banks, Shinkin Banks.

JEL Codes: E52, E58, E63, F42.

Erschienen in

Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital, Bd. 54 (2021), Heft 4: S. 533–562.

Download

via Duncker Humblot

Karl-Friedrich Israel; Tim Florian Sepp; Nils Sonnenberg

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of monetary policy on household saving in Japan between 1993 and 2017. Using annual data from the Japan Panel Survey of Consumers it is shown that monetary expansion has contributed to a widening gap in households’ net saving through an adverse effect on the volume of saving of non-academic households. In contrast, households with at least one academic tend to be able to compensate these adverse effects of monetary expansion or can even benefit from it. The article documents how inequality in terms of the ability to build up wealth has increased in Japan over the past decades. The statistical analysis controls for household size as well as potential spatial effects in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy on household saving.

Keywords: household saving, inequality, interest rate, Japan, Monetary policy.

JEL Codes: D31, D63, E52, E58.

Erschienen in

Applied Economics, 1-17.

Download

via Taylor & Francis Online

Gunther Schnabl; Tim Sepp

Abstract

Das Papier untersucht die Veränderung der Sparkultur in Japan während mehr als 30 Jahren Niedrig-, Null- und Negativzinspolitik basierend auf einer Analyse der Allokationsfunktion von Zinsen und der Transformationsfunktion der Banken bei der Kreditvergabe. Es wird gezeigt, wie durch die anhaltend lockere Geldpolitik der Bank von Japan die Sparkultur in Japan grundlegend von einer hohen Haushaltssparquote zu einer sehr niedrigen Haushaltssparquote verändert wurde. Es werden aufbauend auf der theoretischen Literatur zu Sparmotiven Kanäle identifiziert, die das Haushalts- und Unternehmenssparen maßgeblich verändert und damit die Wachstumskräfte des Landes anhaltend geschwächt haben.

Keywords: Abenomics, Geldpolitik, Haushaltssparen, Japan, Nullzinspolitik, Sparen, Sparkultur, Unternehmenssparen.

JEL Codes: E21, E43, E52.

Erschienen in

Working Paper, No. 174.

Download

via Wifa Working Paper

Gunther Schnabl; Taiki Murai

Abstract

The bursting of the Japanese bubble economy in the early 1990s put the stage for a lasting lowzero-, and negative-interest rate environment, which fundamentally changed the business environment for the Japanese commercial banks. On the income side, with interest margins becoming increasingly depressed, net interest revenues declined, which forced the banks to expand revenues from fees and commissions. The banks had to cut costs by reducing the number of employees, closing branches and merging into larger banks. The gradual concentration process has most recently cumulated in the relaxation of the monopoly law. With the capital allocation function of banks being undermined, the Japanese economy has become zombified, suffering from anemic growth.

Keywords: Bank of Japan, banks, concentration, financial repression, interest margin, Japan, Monetary policy, regional banks.

JEL Codes: E50, E52, G21.

Erschienen in

Working Paper, No. 169.

Download

via Econstor

Karl-Friedrich Israel; Sophia Latsos

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of conventional and unconventional monetary policy on income inequality in Japan, using hitherto unexplored data from the Japan Household Panel Survey. Empirical evidence shows that expansionary monetary policy in Japan has contributed to diminishing the gender pay gap through an increase in working time of women relative to men, but also to increasing the education pay gap. These effects may have materialized via the aggregate demand channel and the labour productivity channel. In contrast, expansionary monetary policy has had no significant impact on the development of the age pay gap.

Keywords: income inequality, Japan, low interest rate policy, Monetary policy, unconventional monetary policy.

JEL Codes: D31, D63, E52, E58.

Erschienen in

Applied Economics Volume 52, 2020 - Issue 40.

Download

via Taylor & Francis Online

Raphael Fischer; Gunther Schnabl

Abstract

Both Japan and parts of the European Monetary Union have experienced boom and bust in stock and real estate markets, which have been followed by a lasting crisis. The paper analyses the role of a high degree of regional heterogeneity for public debt and monetary policy in the context of crisis. It is shown for Japan that the attempts to maintain regional cohesion via a regional transfer mechanism has contributed to the unprecedented rise in public debt and persistent monetary expansion. Econometric estimations show that in Japan regional redistribution of funds has ensured homogeneous living conditions across Japanese regions pre- and post-crisis. The side condition is monetary expansion. A similar effect could emerge in Europe, if the crisis persists.

Keywords: EMU Crisis, Japan, Monetary policy, Public debt, Regional redistribution.

JEL Codes: H20, H50, H70.

Erschienen in

International Economics and Economic Policy (April 2018), Volume 15, Issue 2, pp 405–428.

Download

via SpringerLink

Gunther Schnabl

Abstract

Japan experienced a boom-and-bust cycle in the real estate and stock markets almost 20 years earlier than Europe. Since the bursting of the Japanese bubble economy, the country has fallen into a deep recession and has experimented with crisis therapies in the form of unconventional monetary expansion, Keynesian fiscal stimulus, and recapitalization of financial institutions. Japan reached a low interest rate environment in the mid 1990s and has accumulated an exceptionally high level of public debt during more than two decades of economic stagnation. This paper compares the boom-and-bust cycles in Japan and Europe with respect to the reasons for excessive booms, the characteristics of the crises, and the (potential) effects of the crisis therapies. It is argued that in both Japan and Europe the consequences of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies include the hysteresis of a low-interest rate and high government debt environment, the erosion of the allocation and signaling functions of the interest rate, the gradual quasi-nationalization of financial institutions, as well as gradual real income losses. The economic policy implication for Europe and Japan is the timely exit from crisis therapies in the form of excessively expansionary monetary and fiscal policies.

Keywords: boom-and-bust, crisis, crisis therapies, economic stagnation, Europe, fiscal policies, interest rate, Japan, Keynesian fiscal stimulus, monetary expansion, Public debt, recapitalization of financial institutions, recession.

JEL Codes: E00, E60, E62, E66, F00, N00, O10.

Erschienen in

Asian Economic Papers, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp 124-150.

Download

Via EconPapers