The Weight of the Yen: How Denial Imperils America's Future and Ruins an Alliance [Hardcover]

R. Taggart Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

Why has the deficit proved such an intractable problem and our national debt risen to $4 trillion? Why can't our political leaders gain a balanced budget without tinkering with the Constitution? This book looks to Japan and the Reagan-Bush years for the surprising answers, providing a fast-paced and intriguing financial history of the past 15 years and an analysis of the problems facing America and Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the mid 1980s, the land in Tokyo and its surrounding area was thought to be worth more than the combined value of all real estate in the United States. Ten years later, with a banking system $400 billion in debt, the picture is entirely different. R. Taggart Murphy, an investment banker who lives in Japan, delves into the reasons for this backward fall in The Weight of the Yen. He details the Japanese political and economic systems and then nudges the finger of blame toward the country's civil service system--especially the Ministry of Finance--and to the mishandling of the U.S.-Japanese alliance.

From Publishers Weekly

An American investment banker who has lived in Japan for the past 15 years, Murphy brings a rare bicultural perspective to his enlightening and disturbing saga of how Japan became the world's largest creditor country while the U.S. became the world's biggest debtor. In his analysis, Ronald Reagan takes the blame for leading the U.S. into an unacknowledged program of borrowing some half a trillion dollars from Japan to finance our federal deficit. Starting in 1981, Japanese investors gobbled up U.S. Treasury securities and propped up American buying power for a decade and a half, allowing successive presidents to avoid the mounting national debt while Americans indulged in an orgy of consumption. Japan found a ready channel for its excess cash, thus helping to perpetuate its ruling hierarchy presiding over a cartelized, government-controlled, mercantilist Japanese economy. Murphy suggests that the mutual dependency harms both countries and observes that our "furtive dependence" on Japan continues through an influx of short-term, unstable Japanese money. He urges U.S. leaders to develop a cohesive, realistic Japan policy in place of hectoring and rhetoric.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393038327
• ISBN-13: 978-0393038323
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,195,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on the history of Japanese finance in print., March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Weight of the Yen (Paperback)

This book is a must read for anyone interested in knowing how the Japanese financial world works, but is so well written that it should be on the bookshelf of anyone who cares about the US-Japan bilateral relationship. Especially if you want to know the truth about how the Japanese economy and financial market has been manipulated by the powerful beaurocracy, this is your book. For those mystified by Japan's "Lost Decade" and why it persists, this book will provide some surprising answers.

Just as interesting is the author's analysis of the financial straight jacket that the US and Japan locked themselves into without truly understanding the consequences. Fans of the Reagan Administration will think twice about their hero when they realize the legacy that Supply Side Economics has left in both the US and Japan.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, this book really is a true tour-de-force.

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read, March 15, 2010

By 

From Japan - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weight of the Yen (Paperback)

A brilliant account of the developments leading to one of the greatest financial bubbles of all times. Must read for anyone interested in Japan, or financial bubbles, or currencies, or international trade and politics, etc. Murphy makes important references to Karel van Wolferen's The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation, and that is also a must read to understand how Japan power works.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Comprehendible!, February 18, 2001

By 

thebookman40 "dave-in-japan" (Kagoshima-ken Japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Weight of the Yen (Paperback)

To study Japan as I do without studying its economic side would be like studying Europe but neglecting England, France, Germany, and Italy. This book gave me a great introduction to the nature of the exchange rate's importance and what factors cause its fluctuation. It largely fills one key component (economics) of one's overall study of Japan. As with most outstanding books, reading this one has led me to many other books. You don't need a Phd. in Economics to read this one!