Source: BloombergTV
In light of the low voter turnout in Japan’s December 2014, billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Abe’s economic policies known as “Abenomics,” Carnegie’s Jim Schoff was asked whether Abe should feel reaffirmed that his policies are what the Japanese people want. Schoff responded that the critical thing for Abe was that this election gave him a total of four years until needing another election, to implement his policies as a sort of “preemptive strike” against the uncoordinated opposition parties. Schoff said that Abe could now take the more unpopular steps and recover with a more productive economy. He added that Abe might take a number of specific short-term steps, such as implement a fiscal stimulus (around $25 billion) and a corporate tax cut so that the rate would be at a low of 20 percent. Schoff finished by saying that in the long-term Abe is looking to tackle deregulation in the electricity sector and also tackle the more entrenched issues of agriculture reform and healthcare reform.