Persistent Deflation and Monetary Policy

*The articles in this journal can be purchased at Wiley Online Library.

Summary of this issue

 The liquidity trap is a very rare phenomenon, and the current Japanese situation is only comparable with the US experience during the Great Depression. However, similar phenomena took place in the US and European countries during the recent global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. Why the policy rate hit the zero lower again in Japan and other industrial countries since the Great Depression? This may be a big question to be asked. This issue addresses this questions with a particular focus on deflation in Japan.

Articles in this issue

Editors’ Overview
　Takatoshi ITO (University of Tokyo)
　Kazumasa IWATA (Japan Center for Economic Research)
　Colin MCKENZIE (Keio University)
　Shujiro URATA (Waseda University)
　Tsutomu WATANABE (University of Tokyo)

Chronic Deflation in Japan
　Kenji NISHIZAKI (Bank of Japan)
　Toshitaka SEKINE (Bank of Japan)
　Yoichi UENO (Bank of Japan)

Micro Price Dynamics during Japan’s Lost Decades
　Nao SUDO (Bank of Japan)
　Kozo UEDA (Waseda University)
　Kota WATANABE (Chuo University)

Product Downsizing and Hidden Price Increases: Evidence from Japan’s Deflationary Period
　Satoshi IMAI (Statistics Bureau of Japan)
　Tsutomu WATANABE (University of Tokyo)

Who Faces Higher Prices? An Empirical Analysis Based on Japanese Homescan Data
　Naohito ABE (Hitotsubashi Univeristy)
　Kyosuke SHIOTANI (Bank of Japan)

A Pass‐Through Revival
　Etsuro SHIOJI (Hitotsubashi University)

Is Downward Wage Flexibility the Primary Factor of Japan’s Prolonged Deflation?
　Sachiko KURODA (Waseda University)
　Isamu YAMAMOTO (Keio University)