Japan in the World Economy: “3D Dimension”

Abstract

The Japanese economy entered the third decade of the 21st century with low and unstable growth rates, some vestiges of catch-up development, the legacy of the “lost” decade of the 1990s in the form of huge accumulated public debt, and demographic problems. From the position of the second largest economy in the world, which it occupied in the 1990s, it dropped to 3rd place (GDP at the current exchange rate) and to 4th place in PPP. The country’s share in world GDP decreased from 7.6 % to 3.7 % (PPP) between 1990 and 2023. What is Japan’s real place in the global and Asian economies? Does the country have growth potential in modern conditions? What are the internal quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the Japanese economic model? Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the state and prospects of the Japanese economy according to the parameters “outside” — “inside” — “forward”, which is figuratively reflected in the title of the work as “3D measurement”. The paper analyzes internal and external problems and factors of development of the Japanese economy in the context of global uncertainty, the main trends in the country’s economic development in the 21st century and the directions of modernization of the country’s socio-economic model.

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