It is an honor to be invited to give the Inaugural Mayekawa Lecture and it is a special pleasure to return to Tokyo and the Bank of Japan to do so. I would like to begin the lecture by taking note of Governor Mayekawa’s comprehensive approach to economic research and public policy problems during the 1970s and 1980s. Then, using a similar approach, I will consider some of the difficulties that researchers and policy makers face today.
A Comprehensive Approach to Research and Policy
The best way for me to describe the influential approach to research and policy that I have found to be characteristic of Governor Mayakawa’s contributions is through several examples or stories about his work at the Bank of Japan and afterwards. I start with monetary policy in the 1970s.
Lessons Learned about Monetary Policy in Practice
Haruo Mayekawa served as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan from 1974 to 1979 and as Governor from 1979 to 1984. The late 1970s and early 1980s were, of 2 course, very challenging times for economic policymakers throughout the world. In many countries, the Great Inflation was still raging and the Great Moderation was at best a glitter of hope in the minds, or the computers, of monetary scholars.
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