Episode 29: What Happened to Japan?

Gary and Simon discuss Japan, examining its rise as a global economic powerhouse post-World War II, the valuation bubble that popped in 1990, and the policy mistakes contributing to the ‘lost three decades’ since. What are the lessons from Japan which might apply to China or the United States today? Further, why has the US Treasury recently intervened recently to support the Japanese Yen and how do Japanese policies affect US interest rates?A video version of Power and Consequences is now available on YouTube. Please visit that channel also for additional short content.For bonus thoughts and recommended reading for each episode, visit powerandconsequences.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter!Host bios:Gary Gensler, former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management, and Professor of the Practice of Finance, at MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, finance, and economic policy. He previously served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Chair of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission, and Senior Advisor to Senator Paul Sarbanes. Earlier, Gensler was at Goldman Sachs for 18 years, where he became a partner.Simon Johnson, a 2024 Nobel laureate in economics and former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, head of its Global Economics and Management group, and Co-Director of MIT’s Stone Center for Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. He co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council and is an AI Ambassador for the UK. Simon is the author of 13 Bankers, Jump-Starting America, and Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.Gary & Simon also recently co-edited, with Ugo Panizza and Beatrice Weder di Mauro, The Economic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration.