Japan is living in the shadow of its economic miracle. Its stagnation and decline relative to other advanced economies since the early 1990s is a consequence of business and government difficulty in breaking away from once-successful practices. The Japanese postwar economic miracle created the world's second largest capitalist economy. This remarkable performance, in the face of such enormous obstacles, helped solidify, even sanctify, the institutions, methods, and political arrangements associated with the economic miracle. Based upon a decade of research articles distributed in the Japan Economic Institute's weekly report on Japan, In the Shadow of the Miracle analyzes the sources of Japanese growth and the nature and scale of its current economic problems. Chapters examine the steps being taken by Japan's government and business leaders to address the mounting national economic problems and the impact on Japan of the wider Asian financial crisis (1997-99). A final section addresses the question of whether Japan is fundamentally different from other advanced economies.

Criticism of current Japanese macroeconomic and financial policies is so wide spread that the reasons for it are assumed to be self-evident. In this volume, Adam Posen explains in depth why a shift in Japanese fiscal and monetary policies, as well as financial reform, would be in Japan's self-interest. He demonstrates that Japanese economic stagnation in the 1990s is the result of mistaken fiscal austerity and financial laissez-faire rather than a structural decline of the "Japan Model." The author outlines a program for putting the country back on the path to solid economic growth - primarily through permanent tax cuts and monetary stabilization - and draws broader lessons from the recent Japanese policy actions that led to the country's continuing stagnation.