By
Edward J. Lincoln
New York University, Stern School of Business
The collection of polls monitored and translated by the Mansfield Foundation provides a fascinating look at economic issues in Japan over the past nine months. Mostly they confirm my suspicion that economic problems are not getting as much attention in Japan as they are in the United States. But the questions and responses also involve a number of odd or puzzling features of public opinion about economic issues.
Let me pick up the thread nine months ago, in August 2008. At that point in time, people should have just begun to become aware of the economic downturn in Japan. In the background was the ongoing financial crisis in the United States. Even though Japanese financial institutions had not invested heavily in American toxic assets, there was a growing recognition that the recession in the United States would have some negative impact on Japan. Preliminary statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) released on August 13 for the second quarter of the year (April-June) indicated a rather substantial dip in total output (at a 2.4 percent annualized rate). Meanwhile...