Suganomics/Bidenomics – New Economics for Japan?

On April 9, 2021 the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT) held a conversation entitled Suganomics/Bidenomics – New Economics for Japan? At this event IFAT hosted Professor Tomohiko Taniguchi from Keio University, Japan, who served as advisor to former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Deputy Director for Strategy Tamás Baranyi joined the conversation as speaker, and Director Márton Ugrósdy as moderator.

Mr. Taniguchi gave a broad overview of the economic success of Abenomics in the past years as well as the general problems of Japanese economy. Abenomics was characterized by easy monetary policy and heavy fiscal policy, which, coupled with a push for structural reforms, resulted in incresased growth rates. Moreover, as economy is just a foundation for social well-being, the peak year of Abenomics (2019) saw not only an excellent year for the economy, but also the overall societal health of Japan: from youth unemployment to suicide rates many social ills reached a historic low. It is important for the new Suga cabinet to keep those reforms on track but it is going to be extremely difficult due to the declining demography of Japan, added the professor.

Mr. Baranyi spoke about the emerging consensus about the economy in the U.S., often called Bidenomics, its proposed contents and its criticism.

In the Q&A session, Mr. Taniguchi further explained the outlook of Japanese economic reform: in his view, present Prime Minister Suga has to win two important political battles, the election for party leadership and an early election, to gather enough political capital to carry on and expand reforms in Japan. An early assessment of how Suganomics will look like could also be made after these political wins.

The full recording can accessed at the link below or on our YouTube-channel!