At first glance, the sharp fall in global equity markets on the back of the dreadful humanitarian and infrastructure disaster in Japan was understandable.
Despite its anaemic growth over the past 20 years, Japan is still an economic powerhouse – with the international monetary fund calculating its GDP in 2010 as the fourth largest in the world after the European Union, the US and China. Indeed, to put this into perspective, Japan’s estimated 8.7% share of global GDP in 2010 was similar to the combined economic output of both Germany and the UK. A closed economy However, as noted in its 2008 Economic Survey, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calculates the Japanese domestic market is the least open of any o...
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