{"title":"Population aging, government policy and the postwar Japanese economy","authors":"Keisuke Otsu , Katsuyuki Shibayama","doi":"10.1016/j.jjie.2022.101191","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper analyzes the Postwar Japanese economy with a parsimonious neoclassical growth model that incorporates the demographic transition in Japan. We find that i) the increase in the aged population share can account for most of the decline in employment and reduced output by 8%, ii) workweek shortening policy led to a 20% reduction in output from its potential level by reducing hours worked over the 1988-1994 period, iii) the rise in labor tax led to an 11% reduction in output from its potential level by discouraging hours worked, iv) the shift in the composition of government spending may have caused a slowdown in productivity growth and hence a reduction in the potential output level itself.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47082,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Japanese and International Economies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 101191"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"8","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Japanese and International Economies","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889158322000016","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 8
Abstract
This paper analyzes the Postwar Japanese economy with a parsimonious neoclassical growth model that incorporates the demographic transition in Japan. We find that i) the increase in the aged population share can account for most of the decline in employment and reduced output by 8%, ii) workweek shortening policy led to a 20% reduction in output from its potential level by reducing hours worked over the 1988-1994 period, iii) the rise in labor tax led to an 11% reduction in output from its potential level by discouraging hours worked, iv) the shift in the composition of government spending may have caused a slowdown in productivity growth and hence a reduction in the potential output level itself.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the Japanese and International Economies publishes original reports of research devoted to academic analyses of the Japanese economy and its interdependence on other national economies. The Journal also features articles that present related theoretical, empirical, and comparative analyses with their policy implications. Book reviews are also published.