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Figure: 1 Gini before Taxes and Transfers (Market Income)
“In the last two years, Japan has embarked on an ambitious effort, the so-called Abenomics approach, to decisively get the economy out of deflation and revive growth. At the same time, policymakers and academics from all over the world are engaging in a global debate on inequality.
”This is what happens when economies rely on easy money but don’t follow through with the hard work of reform.
If ever there was a country that illustrates the bizarre economic conditions the world finds itself in, it’s Japan.
Usually, when a country’s central bank cuts interest rates, its currency weakens on the global stage, making it easier to sell goods and services abroad as well as providing incentives for banks to lend. Both are supposed to increase economic growth. Except nothing is working like it’s supposed to these days in the global economy, and Japan is the number one case in point.
”Listed Japanese companies are on track for a third-straight year of record dividend payouts, with the figure set to hit 10.8 trillion yen ($93.38 billion), topping the 10 trillion yen mark for the first time.
”To manage a massive amount of funds safely and efficiently, it is vital to build an effective organization and system suited to carrying out the task.
A council of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has proposed that the current ban on direct stock investment by the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) remain in place, at least for the time being.
Governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Haruhiko Kuroda explains his negative interest rate plan
”The skiing season would have been a great time to have been on the slopes in Japan—and out of the market.
A ski-lift ride up to the level of the Nikkei 225 average intraday high of 19,967 yen on December 3 would have been followed by a thrilling (or agonizing) almost uninterrupted slide to its 52 week low of 14,952 yen set on February 12.
”As foreign investors flee Tokyo stocks, the world’s largest asset manager says the move by the Bank of Japan that spooked the market will be one of the main things that pushes it back up.
A Fanuc robot is seen in this 2013 file photo.Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO/Zuma Press
“For a long-term investor, market turmoil can offer a chance to snap up the shares of solid businesses at a discount. Matthew Brett, a co-portfolio manager of Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford & Co.’s £7 billion ($10 billion) Japanese equity fund, says his team has been buying shares of robot maker Fanuc Corp. and optical-product maker Topcon Corp. over the last couple of weeks.
Overview — In recent years, a small but growing number of companies have held annual shareholder meetings exclusively online or provided for online participation. Some of the early-adopting companies that decided to switch to an annual shareholder meeting held exclusively in cyberspace (without a physical meeting of shareholders happening simultaneously) received objections from investors and negative publicity, and this topic continues to be debated in corporate governance circles.