On October 31, 2014, the Bank of Japan made public its
policy of buying larger amounts of government debt—80 trillion yen ($734 billion)
a year—so as to stimulate the economy.[1]
The Nikkei 225-stock index average rose almost 5 percent that day, while the
yen fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the preceding month. In
effect, investors and analysts were factoring in the likely stimulatory impact
on the economy and the inflationary implication of more yen relative even to
the expanded output, respectively. Put another way, the lower yen suggests that
any strengthening of the currency from higher economic output would be more
than countered by the weakening impact of inflation. Interestingly, not even
the likely boost to exports from the cheaper yen was expected by the market
participants to give the stimulus the edge in pushing the currency higher
rather than lower.
The full essay is at "The Bank of Japan's Quantitative Easing"
1. Jonathan Soble, “Japan’s
Central Bank Unexpectedly Moves to Stimulate Economy,” The New York Times, October 31, 2014.
