Author Archives: Eamonn Fingleton

A Reply to Paul Krugman

It is past time Paul Krugman visited “basket case” Japan. I have been under the weather these last few days, hence my delay in replying to Paul Krugman’s critique of my recent article on Japan’s lost decades. He writes: “Fingleton … Continue reading

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Coming Soon: A Reply to Paul Krugman

paul krugman, matt yglesias, new york times, lost decades Continue reading

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Japan’s “Lost Decades”: The Sophistry Continues

My article in today’s New York Times Sunday Review has been generating heat as well as light. An article I have written on Japan for the January 8 New York Times Sunday Review went live at the nytimes.com website yesterday … Continue reading

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The Fingleton Invitation: Progress Report

People have asked me what happened to the Fingleton Invitation. The answer is nothing. Some months ago I invited Ed Lincoln, a former Tokyo-based economic adviser to the U.S. government, to join me for a public discussion of the Japanese … Continue reading

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An Open Letter to Professor Edward J. Lincoln

The letter below, to the Clinton administration’s chief Japan economist, is self-explanatory. Dear Ed: Having heard nothing from you over the summer despite several private attempts to make contact, I must now press publicly for an answer. As you know, … Continue reading

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Dollars and Dragons

I have just published the article below in  the American Conservative. TOKYO—In the mid 1990s, I published a book entitled Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. By the Year 2000. The prediction in the subtitle … Continue reading

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Best Books On Japan: A Second Opinion

I have had occasion to  second-guess a recent list of best books on Japan. An old joke has it that a newspaper editor is a person who separates the wheat from the chaff, and then prints the chaff. On this … Continue reading

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The Weight of the Yen

As I have repeatedly documented at this website, the story of Japan’s two lost decades is a myth. But if I am right, how come so many ostensibly reliable observers seem to disagree with me? There are several reasons, none … Continue reading

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An invitation, some surprising facts, and two elusive experts

For thirteen years now I have been trying to organize a public debate on what really happened to the Japanese economy. The effort continues. The facts below have convinced at least one top American economic thinker that a debate is … Continue reading

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