That tends to create the social climate, which is prone to induce policy measures inconsistent with economic efficiency. That leads to the fourth point in economic policy challenges. Fourth, we need to pay more attention to the importance of maintaining the flexibility of the economic structure. As I discussed earlier, Japan’s “lost decade” was crucially attributed to the decline in population and productivity.
In that sense, if foreign countries mistakenly draw the most crucial lesson from Japan’s experience as the necessity of short-term stimulative policy measures, they will face a risk of writing the wrong policy prescription.