Sean: 日銀

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Sean:
日銀
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1205253042.shtml


   No surprise here: the DPJ is [1]making good on its threat to oppose
   the Muto nomination:

     The leadership of the Democratic Party of Japan met on 11 March and
     resolved not to agree to the the government's nomination of Bank of
     Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto as its new governor. Regarding
     nominees for new deputy governors, it will oppose University of
     Tokyo Professor Takatoshi Ito but not University of Kyoto Professor
     Masaaki Shirakawa.

   Now that the ruling coalition doesn't control the upper house, it
   can't get its nominees through the Diet without the agreement of the
   DPJ. The DPJ argument against Muto--that he's a career bureaucrat who
   will compromise the central bank's independence--isn't one to be taken
   lightly. Muto was once Vice-Minister of Finance...meaning that he had
   risen through the ranks of appointed officials to become the official
   with the most real power in the ministry (more than the Minister of
   Finance himself, who's appointed by the current administration from on
   high and lacks the deep-rooted connections with ministry insiders).
   Japan has a lot of public debt, so the fear is that Muto will be too
   likely to keep interest rates down to gladden the hearts of federal
   bureaucrats by helping finance the (large) public debt. And word is
   that Muto is less committed, at least in the short term, to raising
   rates than Toshihiko Fukui, whom he'd be succeeding.
   At the same time, I have yet to hear whether the DPJ has any bright
   ideas about who should get the job, and more bickering right now just
   gives foreign investors more reason--as if more were needed--to think
   Tokyo is seriously flaky and unreliable.
   Apropos of nothing: I don't know much about the deputy governor
   nominees, but Wikipedia [2]says that Ito is a disciple of Kenneth
   Arrow, who presumably directed his dissertation at Harvard.

References

   1. http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20080311AT3S1101811032008.html
   2. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E8%97%A4%E9%9A%86%E6%95%8F