Much attention has been given to Japan's need to restructure its economy and its bureaucracy, but little critical analysis has addressed the necessary role of immigration policy in Japan's reform process. A series of economic, demographic, and political factors are converging to require that Japan adopt a more open policy toward immigration if it is to ensure its place as a global leader.
Source: Washington
About the Authors
Demetrios G. Papademetriou was a senior associate and co-director of the International Migration Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment.
Kimberly A. Hamilton is a senior international program officer at Alcoa Foundation.
Former Senior Associate
Kimberly Hamilton
The Plaza Accord was not an externally imposed punishment of Japan but part of a broader restructuring that Japanese economists and policymakers themselves recognized was necessary. Its effects were undermined, however, when Tokyo responded to the resulting slowdown with policies that exacerbated investment, credit expansion, and the very imbalances the adjustment was intended to resolve.
Michael Pettis
The nuclear relationship between China and the United States is increasingly shaped by widening perception gaps rather than deliberate strategic design.
Tong Zhao
China’s banking crisis in the 2000s was resolved by transferring the costs to households through financial repression—a decision that recapitalized the banks while exacerbating the structural imbalances that continue to shape the Chinese economy today.
Michael Pettis
Chinese biotech companies have been on the receiving end of U.S. economic coercion. Yet their responses have differed significantly because firm and state interests are not uniformly aligned. For Washington, treating all Chinese tech firms the same, irrespective of their actual interests, risks pushing them farther into Beijing’s corner.
Xue Gong
Across Asia, China is better positioned to withstand energy shocks from the fallout of the Iran war. Its abundant coal capacity can ensure stability in the near term. Yet at the same time, the country’s energy transition away from coal will make it even less vulnerable during the next shock.
Damien Ma
