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April 29, 2024
 

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Robert J. Shiller
For Robert J. Shiller's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2013
Best, brightest and least productive?
Financial traders and speculators help to allocate society's resources to the most promising businesses. But these people's activities also impose costs on the rest of us.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2013
The link between austerity and demoralization
High unemployment in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere is also tragic because of the emotional cost to the jobless of not being part of working society.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2012
Speculative bubbles without financial markets
A speculative bubble is a social epidemic whose contagion is mediated by price movements.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2012
EU can live on without the euro
Great significance — probably too much — has been attached to a possible breakup of the eurozone. Many believe that such a breakup — if, say, Greece abandoned the euro and reintroduced the drachma — would constitute a political failure that would ultimately threaten Europe's stability. Speaking before the Bundestag last October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel put the matter starkly:
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2012
Does austerity promote economic growth?
In his classic "Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices," Publick Benefits (1724), Bernard Mandeville, the Dutch-born British philosopher and satirist, described — in verse — a prosperous society (of bees) that suddenly chose to make a virtue of austerity, dropping all excess expenditure and extravagant consumption. What then happened?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2011
Toadies to the debt-to-GDP ratio
Economists like to talk about thresholds that, if crossed, spell trouble. Usually there is an element of truth in what they say, but the public often overreacts to such talk.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2011
Economics for the people
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — We are in the midst of a boom in popular economics: books, articles, blogs, public lectures, all followed closely by the general public.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2010
Seven more years of hard economic times?
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Much of the talk emerging from the August 2010 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, attended by many of the world's central bankers and economists, has been about a paper presented there that gave a dire long-run assessment of the future of the world's economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010
Safeguarding financial stability
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Central bankers around the world failed to see the current financial crisis coming before its beginnings in 2007. Martin Cihak of the International Monetary Fund reported in July 2007 that, of 47 central banks found to publish financial stability reports (FSRs), "virtually all" gave a "positive overall assessment of their domestic financial system" in their most recent reports.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2009
Ghost in the recovery machine
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The International Monetary Fund's October World Economic Outlook proclaimed that "Strong public policies have fostered a rebound of industrial production, world trade, and retail sales." The IMF, along with many national leaders, seem ready to give full credit to these policies for engineering what might be the end of the global economic recession.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2009
Economists banked too much on rationality
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The widespread failure of economists to forecast the financial crisis that erupted in 2008 has much to do with faulty models, which meant that economic policymakers and central bankers got no warning of what was to come.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2009
A story line to push the economy
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Since hitting bottom in early March, the world's major stock markets have all risen dramatically. Some, notably in China and Brazil, reached lows last fall and again in March, before rebounding sharply, with Brazil's Bovespa up 75 percent in May compared to late October 2008, and the Shanghai Composite up 54 percent in roughly the same period. The stock market news just about everywhere has been very good since March.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2008
Coaxing a turnabout in our 'animal spirits'
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The world's fundamental economic problem today is a staggering loss of business confidence. Commercial banks, investment banks and hedge funds all owe their ongoing trouble to its decline, which in turn is jeopardizing the plans of companies and entrepreneurs to launch enterprises and make investments, and of households to consume.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2008
Bailout raises moral issues
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The United States government's takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac constitutes a huge bailout of these institutions' creditors, whose losses have ballooned as house prices continue to plummet. With the government now fully guaranteeing Fannie's and Freddie's debts, American taxpayers will have to pay for everything not covered by their creditors' inadequate capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2008
Do images of scarcity drive prices higher?
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Could the television image of the Greenland ice cap crumbling into the ocean because of global warming — indirectly and psychologically — be partly responsible for high oil and other commodity prices? The usual explanation of today's scarcity and high prices focuses on explosive growth in emerging countries, China and India in particular, whose demand for scarce resources is "insatiable."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2008
Build that nest egg with government help
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — People are fascinated by wealth. They enjoy watching the wealthy, savoring the thought of their fine homes, luxurious vacations, fancy cars, and gourmet dining. But if you infer from this that people spend a lot of time planning the lifetime accumulation of their own wealth, you would be wrong.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2007
Worldwide bubble trouble
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — The future of the housing boom, and the possible financial repercussions of a substantial price decline in coming years, are a matter of mounting concern among governments around the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2007
Something's up as 'buy' confidence slips
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — The sharp drop in the world's stock markets on Aug. 9 — after BNP Paribas announced that it would freeze three of its funds — is just one more example of the markets' recent downward instability or asymmetry. The markets have been more vulnerable to sudden large drops than they have been to sudden large increases.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2007
That hazy, crazy bubbly feel of liquidity
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — We increasingly hear that "the world is awash with liquidity," and that this justifies expecting asset prices to continue rising. But what does such liquidity mean, and is there really reason to expect that it will sustain further increases in stock and real estate prices?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2007
The taming of 'speculative capitalism'
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the leading contender in the French presidential election, recently lashed out against what he called "speculative capitalism," and says he wants to "moralize the financial zone" created by the euro. What does Sarkozy mean by "speculative capitalism?" Something immoral, apparently, but what? The term has rarely been used before, and seems to be redundant. After all, capitalism is practically a synonym for speculation, isn't it?
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa
A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa

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