The first of the three cornerstones of Abenomics, “aggressive monetary accommodation” focused on achieving the inflation target. As a result, it succeeded in identifying the structural aspects of Japan’s low inflation and thus helped to assure the independence of monetary policy. The Bank of Japan’s large-scale JGB purchases and control of medium- and long-term interest rates were in a sense made possible by the nation’s structurally low inflation.

The coronavirus has had a far-reaching impact on society. Even today, several months after Japan lifted its state of emergency, it remains difficult to envision the ultimate ramifications of the pandemic. There is mounting criticism of capitalist economies that naively pursue growth at any cost and ignore the finite nature of the natural environment, and there is also a growing awareness of the importance of sustainability. On the conceptual line stretching from liberalism to authoritarianism, more are starting to seek an emphasis on public welfare over individual freedoms. Conceptual pairs like “growth vs. sustainability” and “liberalism vs. authoritarianism” are increasingly presented as binary opposites, with a growing sense that the coronavirus has flipped the switch from the former to the latter.