News Story #1

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/imf-cuts-japan-growth-forecast-issues-warning-over-abenomics


1. Recently, the International Monetary Fund has declared that they expect a decrease in the rate of growth of Japan's economy. This is in part due to Japan's national debt as well as its large amount of tariff and non-tariff barriers on imported goods. The current Prime Minister has tried to implement a plan to help alleviate these issues, but as been questioned by the IMF in whether it will work or not.

2. In this article we see a market with many regulations on imports. This abundance of rules placed in the economy is perhaps a burden that is preventing the economy from working efficiently as talked about in John McMillan's Reinventing the Bazaar. This can also be explained by that fact that with higher restrictions on imports of goods, it is possible that this may reduce the supply of those goods which will in turn drive up prices and decrease the available quantity of good.

3. As stated before, the IMF blames the current situation on Japan's history of trade restrictions and national debt. Japan has appeared to take steps in deregulation of trade restrictions as well as tax increases to help get rid of the national debt. I believe that continuing to eliminate trade restrictions with countries will help to make Japan's economy run at its fullest potential which will help it to both grow and reduce the debt.