Owing to steady improvement in the employment  2  and income situation, private consumption also has been increasing moderately, albeit with fluctuations. According to the Regional Economic Report released by the Bank of Japan in January 2018, out of a total of nine regions across Japan, six regions, including the Kinki region, reported that their economy had been expanding or expanding moderately.
Answering these questions is obviously critical to reaching a decision on whether lower is better. A second critical factor concerns the effectiveness of any alternative policy tools that authorities are likely to have at their disposal whenever the zero bound is reached. Do unconventional monetary policy instruments, such as quantitative easing, credit easing and conditional commitments, represent viable mechanisms for overcoming the zero bound?