Abenomics, or: How we learned the public to stop worrying and ignore the debt

Debt refinancing or consolidation is a trend for states worldwide. In Japan, due to Abenomics’ extensive monetary policy, state debt has risen greatly. This debt is deemed sustainable to the official discourse of financial institutions, since it is held nationally and debt is sought to be refinanced through the national financial system. This paper challenges this account that the state debt is sustainable, by analysing the specific discursive construction of the public the BOJ and the MOF enforce to render the state debt as sustainable. The result of the research is that the BOJ and the MOF try to utilise the public through identity construction, but that this identity is incompatible in terms of spatial, temporal and ethical dimensions. This undermines the credibility of the financial institutions, pressuring the sustainability of the state debt and the success of Abenomics. This research analyses the state-specific condition that allow for state debt, and therefore forms a lesson...Show moreDebt refinancing or consolidation is a trend for states worldwide. In Japan, due to Abenomics’ extensive monetary policy, state debt has risen greatly. This debt is deemed sustainable to the official discourse of financial institutions, since it is held nationally and debt is sought to be refinanced through the national financial system. This paper challenges this account that the state debt is sustainable, by analysing the specific discursive construction of the public the BOJ and the MOF enforce to render the state debt as sustainable. The result of the research is that the BOJ and the MOF try to utilise the public through identity construction, but that this identity is incompatible in terms of spatial, temporal and ethical dimensions. This undermines the credibility of the financial institutions, pressuring the sustainability of the state debt and the success of Abenomics. This research analyses the state-specific condition that allow for state debt, and therefore forms a lesson in how to assess discourse by financial institutions that can be applied to case studies worldwide.Show less

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Abenomics, or: How we learned the public to stop worrying and ignore the debt