February 6, 2009 3:37PM 

# Japan’s Stimulus Model 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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[As 200 economists said](https://www.cato.org/special/stimulus09/cato_stimulus.pdf) in the *New York Times*, ” More government spending did not solve Japan’s ‘lost decade’ in the 1990s.”

And it looks like *Times* reporters can [confirm that](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/world/asia/06japan.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=all):

> Japan’s rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s. During those nearly two decades, Japan accumulated the largest public debt in the developed world — totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy — while failing to generate a convincing recovery.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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