Japan's economy Money still matters

摘要

Central bankers are often assumed to spring from the same pod, with the same cautious instincts. Yet the contrast between the Bank of Japan and America's Federal Reserve could hardly be greater. After Japan's stockmarket crash in Janu- ary 1990, the Bank of Japan continued to raise interest rates; it did not start cutting them until July 1991, and then modestly. Contrast that with the Fed, which has cut rates by two-and-a-half percentage points in the past five months. Alan Greenspan, the Fed's chairman, clearly has no intention of copying the Bank of Japan by keeping policy too tight for too long.