Since he took office a year ago, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has seen his popularity nosedive as a result of a series of gaffes he committed. Now that he is set to resign in late April, let me review the role the Mori administration has played.
During Mori's tenure, stock prices plunged and deflationary pressure mounted. I don't blame him for this, because managing the economy is far more difficult than it was 10 or 20 years ago. To put it another way, the economy is much less controllable than it was. So, no matter who is prime minister, it is almost impossible to revive the economy quickly.
Setting economic priorities in "either-or" terms of growth or reform blurs the real economic picture. True, public-works spending has contributed little to growth. But any administration, not just the Mori Cabinet, would have had no choice but to step up such spending.