Machine Learning

The Japanese government and the central bank thought that if they lowered the value of their currency, they would increase their exports and grow the economy The thinking was that a weaker currency would make Japanese products cheaper for foreign buyers and would make foreign products more expensive for Japanese buyers Japan's export economy had been the engine of its economic growth for much of its postwar history In the 1980s, however, Japan's export industries began to face increased competition from foreign producers To increase its exports, Japan needed to lower the value of its currency compared with the currencies of its trading partners Japan's export-led growth strategy had been successful in the past, but the country had grown in step with the rest of the world By the 1980s, Japan had the second-largest economy in the world, but it was still only about half the size of the U S economy The Japanese government had been urging the Bank of Japan to lower the value of the Japanese yen through ex