Japan’s GDP and GNP: How far will the domestic and the national
spread?  by Noriko Hama  Numerical targets are much in vogue
these days. The post-election Koizumi government also seems to
have caught the bug in light of the Council on Economic and
Fiscal Policy’s latest plans for managing the economy over the
medium to longer term.  Japan’s gross domestic product is the
CEFP’s chosen yardstick for measuring progress in downsizing the
public sector. Thus the civil service payroll should be pared
down to half of its current percentage of GDP within the next
decade. Loans outstanding by government-sponsored financial
institutions should likewise be halved in relation to GDP in the
coming years. Increases in health-care spending should be pegged
to GDP growth to prevent runaway cost burdens.  If the CEFP gets
its way with all this, we should start paying more attention to
what GDP is.  Numerical targets are all very well. They sound
like a well-disciplined and objective way of measuring
performance and setting st