Masaru Hayami

Masaru Hayami

Masaru Hayami (速水 優, Hayami Masaru, 24 March 1925 – 17 May 2009) was a Japanese businessman, central banker, the 28th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and a Director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).^[1]

Early life

Hayami was born in Hyōgo Prefecture.^[2] He graduated from The Tokyo College of Commerce (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1947.

Career

Hayami was Chief Executive Officer of the Nissho Iwai Corporation,

He served as Governor of the Bank of Japan from March 20, 1998 to March 19, 2003.^[3] He took over the top BOJ role in 1998, after Governor Yasuo Matsushita and Deputy Governor Toshihiko Fukui resigned in connection with a scandal involving leaks of financially sensitive information.^[4]

Controversy

Hayami was a controversial BOJ governor because he insisted Japanese politicians must change the structure of the economy before the BOJ could take further measures to end deflation.

He fiercely resisted politicians' demand to loosen monetary policy, thereby increasing the pressure on politicians to reduce stifling regulation, monopolies, and oligopolies in various economic sectors. This strategy stressed Japan's long-term economic health over the short term problems of deflation and recession. However, there are doubts to whether the implementation of his demanded policies had actually served to increase Japan's long-term economic health in the first place.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Masaru Hayami, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 9 works in 9 publications in 1 language and 20+ library holdings.^[5]

• 『海図なき航海の時代: 変動相場制10年』 (1982)
• 『円が尊敬される日』 (1995)
• 『国際収支』 (1997)
• 『中央銀行の独立性と金融政策』 (2004)
• 『強い円強い経済 = Strong yen, strong economy』 (2005)

See also

• Sojitz

Notes

References

• Werner, Richard A. (2003). Princes of the Yen: Japan's Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-1048-5; OCLC 471605161