Nevertheless, the past few Tankan surveys (Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan) indicate that a sense of labor shortage among firms has been around a level that has not been observed since the bubble period in the early stage of the 1990s, and manufacturers’ business sentiment remains resilient, although Japan’s production has been unfavorable (Chart 8).
So when the governor takes off to Frankfurt, he is thoroughly prepared and carrying loads of papers and briefing notes in his briefcase. The single currency has delivered many important benefits, but higher productivity in the making of monetary policy is not one of them. All important decisions are prepared at the ECB and in the 16 National Central Banks in parallel.