Topic > Aggregate Demand in the Japanese Economy - 632

To improve Japan's declining economy, the Abe administration has introduced many recovery plans in the hope that they will increase aggregate demand as well as aggregate supply. The two main plans developed by the administration were quantitative monetary easing and raising the consumption tax from 5% to 8%. However, these actions are likely to have a negative impact on the Japanese economy in the long run. Aggregate demand is the total quantity of goods and services demanded in an economy at different prices during a specific period of time. Aggregate supply is the total supply of goods and services produced within an economy at different prices during a specific period of time. When a central bank imposes quantitative monetary easing, it purchases a certain amount of financial assets from private institutions. This increases the price of such financial assets and increases the monetary base. In the case of Japan, with the start of a new fiscal year, the Abe administration decided to resort to monetary easing, which ultimately led to a cheaper yen. This resulted in the rightward shift of aggregate demand from AD1 to AD2, since exports are part of the factors influencing aggregate demand. The average price level increases from P1 to P2, as real output also increases from Y1 to Y2. In Figure 1, we show the Bank of Japan's quantitative monetary easing and its short-term effect. However, caution is spreading as some experts say that too much of a decline in the yen's price will hurt the Japanese economy more than it will. help. In the past, when the economy was largely dependent on exports, a cheap yen would have made Japanese goods and services very competitive, resulting in increased demand for paper. The increase in the consumption tax would subsequently cause aggregate supply to shift to the left from SRAS1 to SRAS2. This taxation increases production costs for businesses. Figure 2 shows the Japan market after the implementation of policies regarding the economy. Exchange rates have fluctuated wildly, but the Japanese economy has long been haunted by the danger of an economic crisis due to the excessive cost of the yen compared to other major currencies in the world. The decline in the cost of the yen under the Abe administration has increased the popularity of his economic policy, but it also has disadvantages. Regarding the consumption tax increase, the Abe administration and the Bank of Japan are tasked with carefully evaluating both the positive and negative effects of the yen's decline and taking conflicting actions to avoid an economic disaster..