The Japanese Economy

1. The Japanese Economy Jung, Sung-Chun

2. Course Outline • This course aims at understanding the Japanese economy. The course starts with an introduction of Japanese economy from historical perspective. • We will see what happened to Japanese economy since in particular 1985. We will deal with contemporary issues in financial and fiscal policy, labor market, structural reform, and trade policy. • All students are required to actively participate in the class through presentation, discussion and Q/A on the relevant theme during the course. • You may choose the paper you want in reference or you can suggest some topics you want to make a presentation. So contents of this course are opened to you. • I hope you actively bring good issues to the class. We will talk about what issues we should deal with in the class.

3. My personal career • Educational and professional background • Graduating from department of economics, Seoul National University • Speaking on Japanese economy in English is heavy burden for me. • I went over to Tokyo in March 1995 and studied economics at Hitotsubashi University until Feb. 2002 for 7 years. • And then I moved to Tottori Prefecture where I found a job, a local university where I taught environmental economics for 1 and a half year. • In Oct. 2003 I came back to Korea and working on Japan study and environmental study at KIEP. • Student’s brief self-introduction

4. Schedule

5. How to operate? • Students are main player at this class • I will just give you two or three lectures • Students must make at least one presentation • Next week, we will assign topics to you. Think about what topic do you want.

6. Exam and scoring • If you actively participate in presentation and discussion, you will get more score. • Presentation will account for 50% of the total score. • Role of discussant will account for 10% of the total score. • We will have final test • final test 30%.