There are three tools of pro-capitalist macroeconomic policy: fiscal, monetary and currency. There is total confusion among mainstream economic advisers on which of these policy tools is best to use to get capitalism out of its depression. Monetarists like Ben Bernanke are wedded to cutting interest rates and ‘printing’ piles of money. Keynesians want go further: they want to reverse neo-liberal fiscal austerity measures and let the government spending ‘multiplier’ work its magic. And some, less vocal, advocate the benefits of devaluing the currency to boost exports. Well, the newly elected Japanese government has gone for all three ‘solutions’ at once!
Japanese economic growth has been stalling. The government’s answer is to add yet more fiscal stimulus to the economy, to pump in yet more liquidity and now to drive down the value of the yen against the currencies of its major trading rivals. That’s particularly important for Japanese capitalism, which relies on exports and investment for any marginal improvement in growth. In just two months, the yen has depreciated by as much as 20% against the dollar from its peak. This was necessary, in the minds of the Japanese, because the yen had been left behind in a ‘race to the bottom’ for the major currencies since the Great Recession began. At one point, the yen had appreciated in real terms (taking into account relative inflation rates) against the currencies of its trading rivals by 30-40% since the Great Recession started. Over the same period, the UK pound had dropped 25% and the euro by 10-15%. Even the currencies of faster-growing emerging capitalist economies had not moved up.
Japanese economic growth has been stalling. The government’s answer is to add yet more fiscal stimulus to the economy, to pump in yet more liquidity and now to drive down the value of the yen against the currencies of its major trading rivals. That’s particularly important for Japanese capitalism, which relies on exports and investment for any marginal improvement in growth. In just two months, the yen has depreciated by as much as 20% against the dollar from its peak. This was necessary, in the minds of the Japanese, because the yen had been left behind in a ‘race to the bottom’ for the major currencies since the Great Recession began. At one point, the yen had appreciated in real terms (taking into account relative inflation rates) against the currencies of its trading rivals by 30-40% since the Great Recession started. Over the same period, the UK pound had dropped 25% and the euro by 10-15%. Even the currencies of faster-growing emerging capitalist economies had not moved up.
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