A Diamond Online article arguing that the cause of Japan's prolonged economic stagnation is corporate surpluses rather than fiscal deficits is being reported via Yahoo! News. It also discusses factors that cannot be explained solely by the declining birth rate, population ageing and population decline.
Japan's economy is said to have experienced a “major failure” that is rare worldwide, having achieved almost no growth for approximately 30 years since the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s. The view is presented that corporate surpluses, rather than fiscal deficits, are at the root of the problem, and the authors explain the true meaning of this in detail.
The declining birth rate and population ageing cannot be conclusively identified as the true causes of the “lost 30 years,” and it is pointed out that some countries have achieved growth despite experiencing greater population declines than Japan. In addition, nominal GDP is described as having remained broadly flat since 1994 and as exceeding ¥600 trillion in 2022, including the post-COVID recovery.
As a phenomenon that cannot be explained solely by worsening demographics, the article cites countries that have achieved economic growth despite population declines. From another perspective, it also characterizes the increase in government debt as “normal.”