BOJ’s Kuroda leaves $11.7 trillion ‘shock and awe’ experiment to his successor

Within weeks of taking office a decade ago, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda fired his “shock and awe” stimulus targeting a return to steady 2% inflation in around two years. As his tenure ends, the original “time horizon” remains largely that — something within sight but out of reach.

Through 10 years of experimental policy that rewrote the rules of global central banking, Kuroda’s BOJ forked out ¥1.55 quadrillion ($11.7 trillion) on bonds, stock funds and corporate debt.

Deflation was tamed though not vanquished; businesses were kept afloat and zombie companies plodded on; workers kept their jobs even as productivity flat lined; the government funded vast spending programs and the deficit deepened; and the economy eked out modest expansions, though only Italy grew slower among major economies.