This book focuses on Japan's recent recovery from a decade-long stagnation, with particular attention to the unfinished policy agenda and the international spillovers of Japan's policies, through background studies (both analytical and descriptive) by IMF economists.

The paper describes in broad outline the roles of money and foreign trade in the unreformed centrally planned economy. It describes how money used by enterprises performed a different function and was isolated from that used by consumers, and how each was shielded from foreign influences. The...

The paper shows how the physical process of adjustment in planned economies is reflected in financial variables. If the domestic supply and demand balance is improved, the balance of income and expenditure will show corresponding changes. The paper traces the interrelationship between the real...

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the impact over time of exchange rate variation on export prices and volumes of three major Japanese industries--motor vehicles, consumer electronics, and iron and steel. Statistical analysis is based on a theoretical model that...

The adjustment of U.S. trade prices--and, hence, of merchandise trade flows--in the face of the substantial dollar depreciation since early 1985 has been slower than might have been expected. This paper examines the recent behavior of U.S. trade prices and concludes that the modest movements are...