"8 Authorities, scholars, and experts dealing with economic and financial issues around the world are still engaged in active discussions over the possibility of their respective economies falling into a situation similar to that experienced by Japan's economy and on measures to avoid such an outcome.
Japan's deflation has been receiving attention globally because protracted deflation, even when it is mild and does not produce a deflationary spiral, is viewed as imposing a great burden on the economy for a prolonged period. 6  It appears that similar questions are also being raised in the United States, where people's inflation expectations seem to be anchored at around 2 percent.