OECD Economic surveys: Japan 2009 Coll. ECONOMIE

This 2009 edition of OECD's periodic review of Japan's economy includes chapters on overcoming the global crisis, improving the efficiency of the banking sector, the fiscal response to the crisis and fiscal sustainability, health care reform, and the climate change policy framework.

Chapter 1. Overcoming the Global Crisis: The Need for a New Growth Model. Japan's longest expansion of the post-war era is followed by its deepest recession. The policy response to the crisis. The short-term economic outlook. The medium-term outlook: the need for structural reform. Policies to promote growth and sustainability. Annex 1.A1. Policy agreement upon the establishment of a coalition government. Chapter 2. Financial Stability: Overcoming the Crisis and Improving the Efficiency of the Banking Sector. Why did the global financial crisis have relatively little direct impact on Japan's banking sector? Strong secondary shocks hit the financial sector. Japan's policies to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the financial sector. Beyond the crisis response: reforms to improve the regulatory architecture. Addressing weak profitability in the banking system. Policies to increase efficiency in the financial sector. Conclusion. Chapter 3. The Fiscal Policy Response to the Crisis and Achieving Fiscal Sustainability. The fiscal response to the crisis. Past measures to improve the fiscal situation. Policies to achieve fiscal sustainability. Conclusion. Chapter 4. Health-Care Reform in Japan: Controlling Costs, Improving Quality and Ensuring Equity. Major challenges facing the Japanese health care system. An overview of Japan's health care system. Containing the growth of health spending and financing it efficiently. Enhancing the quality of health-care services. Addressing imbalances in the provision of health-care services. Maintaining universal coverage in a context of rising relative poverty. Conclusions. Chapter 5. Improving the Policy Framework in Japan to Address Climate Change. Japan's policy framework to address climate change. Analysis of specific policy measures. Japan's performance under the Kyoto Protocol. Looking ahead to the post-Kyoto framework.