Japan’s Policy Response to its Financial Crisis: Parallels with the United States Today

Hosted by the International Monetary Fund

Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Venue: IMF HQ2 Building, Conference Hall 2, HQ2-01A-830
1900 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431


Please note that due to security arrangements, an RSVP is required by March 17, 2009 to ltolentino@imf.org

Guests should present a photo identification at the HQ2 Visitors Entrance on the corner of 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

The seminar aims to bring together leading academics and policy experts to discuss Japan’s experience with its banking crisis of the late 1990s and its implications for resolving the financial difficulties facing the United States. The seminar will examine Japan's responses in the areas of monetary, fiscal and financial policies and conclude with a roundtable discussion on the parallels with the U.S. today.

Agenda

Thursday, March 19, 2009
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Introductory Remarks
Anoop Singh, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund
9:15 – 10:00 a.m. Session I: Credit Easing: The Bank of Japan’s Approach
Speaker: Hiromi Yamaoka, Bank of Japan [Presentation: Credit Easing—Japan’s Experiences under Financial Crisis and Deflation]
Discussant: Vincent Reinhart, American Enterprise Institute [Presentation: Some comments on Quantitative Easing (Q.E.)]
10:00 – 10:15 a.m. Coffee Break
10:15 – 11:00 a.m. Session II: Japan’s Fiscal Stimulus: Did It Work?
Speaker: Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo [Presentation: Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy, The Case of Japan—Fresh water, salt water and real water]
Discussant: Adam S. Posen, Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics
11:00 – 11:45 a.m. Session III: Resolving Japan’s Banking Crisis: Strategies Adopted and Fiscal Cost
Speaker: Takeo Hoshi, University of California, San Diegoo [Presentation: Resolving Japan's Banking Crisis]
Discussant: Jonathan L. Fiechter, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund [Presentation: Lessons from Japan’s Banking Crisis]
11:45 – 12:45 p.m. Concluding Roundtable Discussion: Parallels with the United States
Chair: Olivier Blanchard, Research Department, International Monetary Fund
Participants:
Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo
Krishna Guha, Financial Times
Daisuke Kotegawa, Executive Director, International Monetary Fund
Adam S. Posen, Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics