首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Japanese say they suffer from an economic disease called "structural pessimism". Overseas too, there is a tendency to see Ja
The Japanese say they suffer from an economic disease called "structural pessimism". Overseas too, there is a tendency to see Ja
admin
2017-04-20
72
问题
The Japanese say they suffer from an economic disease called "structural pessimism". Overseas too, there is a tendency to see Japan as a harbinger of all that is doomed in the economies of the euro zone and America—even though figures released on November 14th show its economy grew by an annualised 6% in the third quarter, rebounding quickly from the March tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Look dispassionately at Japan’s economic performance over the past ten years, though, and "the second lost decade" , if not the first, is a misnomer. Much of what tarnishes Japan’s image is the result of demography—more than half its population is over 45—as well as its poor policy in dealing with it. Even so, most Japanese have grown richer over the decade.
In aggregate, Japan’s economy grew at half the pace of America’s between 2001 and 2010. Yet if judged by growth in GDP per person over the same period, then Japan has outperformed America and the euro zone. In part this is because its population has shrunk whereas America’s population has increased.
Though growth in labour productivity fell slightly short of America’s from 2000 to 2008, total factor productivity, a measure of how a country uses capital and labour, grew faster, according to the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation. Japan’s unemployment rate is higher than in
2000, yet it remains about half the level of America and Europe.
Besides supposed stagnation, the two other curses of the Japanese economy are debt and deflation. Yet these also partly reflect demography and can be overstated. People often think of Japan as an indebted country. In fact, it is the world’s biggest creditor nation, boasting ¥253 trillion ( $3.3 trillion) in net foreign assets.
To be sure, its government is a large debtor; its net debt as a share of GDP is one of the highest in the OECD. However, the public debt has been accrued not primarily through wasteful spending or "bridges to nowhere", but because of ageing, says the IMF. Social-security expenditure doubled as a share of GDP between 1990 and 2010 to pay rising pensions and health-care costs. Over the same period tax revenues have shrunk.
Falling tax revenues are a problem. The flip side, though, is that Japan has the lowest tax take of any country in the OECD, at just 17% of GDP. That gives it plenty of room to manoeuvre. Takatoshi Ito, an economist at the University of Tokyo, says increasing the consumption tax by 20 percentage points from its current 5%—putting it at the level of a high-tax European country—would raise ¥50 trillion and immediately wipe out Japan’s fiscal deficit.
That sounds draconian. But here again, demography plays a role. Officials say the elderly resist higher taxes or benefit cuts, and the young, who are in a minority, do not have the political power to push for what is in their long-term interest. David Weinstein, professor of Japanese economy at Columbia University in New York, says the elderly would rather give money to their children than pay it in taxes. Ultimately that may mean that benefits may shrink in the future. " If you want benefits to grow in line with income, as they are now, you need a massive increase in taxes of about 10% of GDP," he says.
Demography helps explain Japan’s stubborn deflation, too, he says. After all, falling prices give savers—most of whom are elderly—positive real yields even when nominal interest rates are close to zero. Up until now, holding government bonds has been a good bet. Domestic savers remain willing to roll them over, which enables the government to fund its deficits. Yet this comes at a cost to the rest of the economy.
In short, Japan’s economy works better for those middle-aged and older than it does for the young. But it is not yet in crisis, and economists say there is plenty it could do to raise its potential growth1 rate, as well as to lower its debt burden.
According to the passage, the Japanese government could do a better job in________.
选项
A、encouraging higher birth rate
B、taking care of the elderly
C、giving young people more power
D、funding its deficit
答案
D
解析
推断题。根据最后一段可知,日本还可以采取很多措施来提升其潜在的经济增长率并减轻债务负担,而减轻债务负担即意味着开源节流,减少财政赤字。本文第七段和第八段都强调了日本政府提升税率还有很大空间,只是主要障碍是老年人的反对,故[D]正确。尽管日本经济面临的多方面问题的背后都是人口结构问题,文中并未将鼓励生育和提升年轻人的权力作为日本应采取的措施,故排除[A]和[C];提高老年人的福利非但不是日本政府应当改进的主要方向,反而可能会进一步增加财政赤字,故排除[B]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0NzK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Theworldisplantingavigorousnewcrop:"agro-pessimism",orfearthatmankindwillnotbeabletofeeditselfexceptbywrec
Theworldisplantingavigorousnewcrop:"agro-pessimism",orfearthatmankindwillnotbeabletofeeditselfexceptbywrec
Theworldisplantingavigorousnewcrop:"agro-pessimism",orfearthatmankindwillnotbeabletofeeditselfexceptbywrec
A、Somepeoplemayhavegotthedisease.B、540peoplehavediedofthedisease.C、Thereisofficialevidencefromthegovernment.
Withrapideconomicgrowthandurbanization,whichofthefollowingbecomeagrowingproblemtopristinerainforestinMalaysia?
Onceasourceof【B1】______businessactivity,Japan’skaraokeindustryhassloweddown.Japanesehavelesstosingaboutamid【B2
Onceasourceof【B1】______businessactivity,Japan’skaraokeindustryhassloweddown.Japanesehavelesstosingaboutamid【B2
Onceasourceof【B1】______businessactivity,Japan’skaraokeindustryhassloweddown.Japanesehavelesstosingaboutamid【B2
随机试题
下列哪项属于输血信息管理系统的基本要求
患者,女性,28岁。近1个月来左侧腰部有隐痛、钝痛。今晨突感阵发性刀割样疼痛,向下腹及会阴部放射。患者面色苍白,疼痛难忍,伴镜下血尿。护士判断此疼痛为
下列含氧酸中,酸性最强的是()。
男女之间握手时,男方要先伸手,如女方不伸手且无握手之意,男士可点头或鞠躬致意。()
品德与态度相比,品德涉及的范围更大。()
定金:是指合同当事人一方,以保证合同履行为目的,于合同成立后,履行前向对方支付的一定数目的金钱。债务人履行债务后,定金应充抵价款或收回。给付定金一方不履行债务的无权要求返还定金;收受定金的一方不履行债务的应双倍返还定金。根据上述定义,下列属于预付定金的是(
我国网络游戏出版产业正处于发展时期,网游产品市场________,形形色色的游戏内容让玩家________。其中不乏商家为了追求短期经济利益,无视国家法律法规和社会责任,甚至触及政策和道德底线。依次填入画横线部分最恰当的一项是()。
画龙点睛:画蛇添足
男性,54岁。有慢性支气管炎病史,醉酒后突起畏寒高热不愈,咳嗽、咳痰加重,两天来咳大量脓痰并带鲜血,胸片右上肺有大片密度增高的阴影,其中并有透光区。如疗效不佳可改用
Inthe1950s,thepioneersofartificialintelligence(AI)predictedthat,bytheendofthiscentury,computerswouldbeconve
最新回复
(
0
)