Comments on: The Asian Economic Slump

By: And Asia is not immune « Gnomestrath - observations on being governed

And Asia is not immune « Gnomestrath - observations on being governed — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:39:53 +0000

[...] Asia is not immune 11 February 2009 — gnomestrath Good review here China’s exports probably fell by the most in a decade in January as demand dried up in the U.S. [...]

By: Richard Riley

Richard Riley — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:05:50 +0000

Came over via the link from Kevin Drum. Good post. A propos your last point (i.e., let's hope Asian countries address their own structural problems and not hope for US/EU exports to pull them out of the slump) - a high-ranking Chinese official whose name and position I can't remember at least made the right noises a few days ago in an interview on the BBC World Service's business show. He acknowledged that internal consumption has to be a major driver of Chinese recovery and growth, and that dependence on US consumers cannot be the long-term strategy. Obviously we'll have to wait and see what really happens, but at least they're starting to talk the right game.

By: Zak

Zak — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:27:33 +0000

The name is actually pronounced closer to Mon-ma, and seems to be here the victim of unfortunate romanization.

By: Stick a choptick in it, they’re done! « Stocks Go Up. Stocks Go Down.

Stick a choptick in it, they’re done! « Stocks Go Up. Stocks Go Down. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:02:33 +0000

[...] a choptick in it, they’re done! Jump to Comments Japan, China, and S. Korea in deep doo-doo. Japan’s economy is in its greatest downturn in 50 [...]

By: odograph

odograph — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:15:22 +0000

I've read of Japanese public works corruption going back a decade. It's wrong to file it under American stimulus scenarios. Not unless we Chicago-ize the nation in the OLD sense. Japan under Construction: Corruption, Politics, and Public Works People bringing up Japanese public works in context of our stimulus bill don't have the Japanese context, IMNSHO.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:04:14 +0000

I think the infatuation with spending as fiscal stimulus has several different sources. First, I think that its supporters are using a perfect stimulus (sort of like a perfect gas) as a yardstick rather than any real stimulus package that can be passed into law. Second, I think a lot of the prominent supporters imagine themselves as prospective commissars in charge of passing out the dough. And imagine if it worked! You could keep the economy growing just by spending (the fallacy of appeal to consequences).

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:13:14 +0000

What I find amazing is that Japan has quite a bit of public works spending. They are busy paving over every unpaved part of Japan and yet they are still in an economic malaise/downturn. What gives I thought massive government spending was a magic bullet! Spend, spend, spend, and viola!! Economic prosperity. Wait, I know their public debt needs to be 200% of GDP, not merely 180% of their GDP.

Here is an article on Japan's fiscal experiment.

HAMADA, Japan — The Hamada Marine Bridge soars majestically over this small fishing harbor, so much larger than the squid boats anchored below that it seems out of place.

And it is not just the bridge. Two decades of generous public works spending have showered this city of 61,000 mostly graying residents with a highway, a two-lane bypass, a university, a prison, a children’s art museum, the Sun Village Hamada sports center, a bright red welcome center, a ski resort and an aquarium featuring three ring-blowing Beluga whales.

Nor is this remote port in western Japan unusual. Japan’s rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s. During those nearly two decades, Japan accumulated the largest public debt in the developed world — totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy — while failing to generate a convincing recovery.

[...]

In the end, say economists, it was not public works but an expensive cleanup of the debt-ridden banking system, combined with growing exports to China and the United States, that brought a close to Japan’s Lost Decade. This has led many to conclude that spending did little more than sink Japan deeply into debt, leaving an enormous tax burden for future generations.

Thank God...err...Obama we have Obama.

By: The Glittering Eye » Blog Archive » Random Thought on the Economy

The Glittering Eye » Blog Archive » Random Thought on the Economy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:32:45 +0000

[...] was writing my post on the stimulus package yesterday and that ties in rather neatly to my post at OTB on the Asian economies is that we shouldn’t limit looking for a crowding out effect to our own shores. If the [...]