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The Ludwig von Mises Institute  Advancing Austrian Economics,
Liberty, and Peace  Advancing the scholarship of liberty in the
tradition of the Austrian School  Search Mises.org  Japan's
Bust: An Austrian Critique of the Fed's Explanation  Mises
Daily: Monday, April 12, 2004 by   Athanasios Orphanides' recent
Fed paper touches on aspects of Japan's extended economic slump
(his basic thesis: the BOJ should have done more). This paper
served as a reminder of the inadequacies and limitations of
mainstream analysis in explaining Japan's long economic winter.
Fortunately, though long unrecognized and unappreciated by the
mainstream, there is a good framework for understanding the
Japanese boom and bust. As it happens, that sequence was a
classic business cycle as predicted by Austrian theory.  The
Austrian analysis begins with the boom. The focus is on that
"cluster of errors" as Rothbard put it, where business suddenly
turns for the worse in a sweepi