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Great Moderation in the Japanese economy

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  • Ko, Jun-Hyung
  • Murase, Koichi

Abstract

This paper investigates the contribution of technology and nontechnology shocks to the changing volatility of output and labor growth in the postwar Japanese economy. A time-varying vector autoregression (VAR) with drifting coefficients and stochastic volatilities is modeled and long-run restriction is used to identify technology shocks in line with Galí (1999) and Galí and Gambetti (2009). We find that technology shocks are responsible for significant changes in the output volatility throughout the total sample period while the volatility of labor input is largely attributed to nontechnology shocks. The driving force behind these results is the negative correlation between labor input and productivity, which holds significantly and persistently over the postwar period.

Suggested Citation

  • Ko, Jun-Hyung & Murase, Koichi, 2013. "Great Moderation in the Japanese economy," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 10-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:japwor:v:27:y:2013:i:c:p:10-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2013.03.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Funashima, Yoshito, 2015. "Automatic stabilizers in the Japanese tax system," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 86-93.
    2. Ko, Jun-Hyung & Kwon, Hyeog Ug, 2015. "Do technology shocks lower hours worked? – Evidence from Japanese industry level data," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 138-157.
    3. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2016. "Business uncertainty and investment: Evidence from Japanese companies," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 224-236.
    4. Ko, Jun-Hyung & Morita, Hiroshi, 2015. "Fiscal sustainability and regime shifts in Japan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 364-375.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Japanese economy; Great Moderation; Time-varying parameter VAR; Stochastic volatility; Technology shocks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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