The Unit aims to propose policies to contain risks in the global economy, with special attention to Japan. A particular concern is the recent surge of protectionism worldwide, especially in advanced countries. The unit also focuses on barriers to sustainable economic development of developing countries.
After the global financial crisis, protectionist policies have been advocated in advanced countries by populists, whose agenda is now backed by people unsatisfied with the current economic situation—e.g., slow economic growth, worsened fiscal conditions, and widened income inequality. Accordingly, policy recommendations need to be based on a solid understanding of these problems, together with even deeper structural issues such as population ageing. At the same time, facing the emergence of new financial services, sometimes called FinTech, the Unit needs to engage in policy discussions to contain risks of a new financial crisis.
Recently in developing countries, while political tensions have arisen in general, their economies have been damaged by international trade disputes, volatile capital flows, and increasing emigrations. To assure their economic developments to be sustainable, policy recommendations need to be based on a thorough and deep thinking on how to design the global economic system from first principles
To achieve the objective, the unit investigates several specific areas through rigorous analyses by academic researchers combined with seasoned practitioners’ real-world experiences. The research topics include:
- Global financial crisis and protectionism
Global financial system and policies
International trade and capital flows - Financial system
New financial services
Reponses to population ageing - Slow economic growth
Consequences of population ageing
Productivity growth - Inequality
- Fiscal crisis
Effects of population ageing
Social security（ Pension , Medical insurance , Welfare assistance）