Sixth Annual Conference of the Japan Economy Network (JEN)

The Sixth Annual Conference of the The Japan Economy Network (JEN) was organized by the Graduate School of Economics and the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University, in collaboration with the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). The conference took place on March 21-22, 2024, at Hitotsubashi University. Established in 2015, JEN aims to promote research on the Japanese economy and facilitate exchange among researchers with active interests in this field. JEN is an informal network open to researchers from academia, think tanks, international organizations, central banks, governments, NGOs, and the private sector. Previous JEN conferences were hosted by the Japanese-German Center Berlin, the Asian Development Bank Institute, the University of Zurich, the Bank of Japan, and Columbia Business School. The Network is hosted by the Department of Economics at SOAS, University of London. The programme committee of the Sixth Annual Conference included the following members:

• Andrew Filardo (Hoover Institution, Stanford University)
• Markus Heckel (German Institute for Japanese Studies)
• Stefania Lottanti von Mandach (University of Zurich)
• Nobuko Nagase (Ochanomizu University)
• Jouchi Nakajima (Hitotsubashi University)
• Ikuko Fueda-Samikawa (Japan Center for Economic Research)
• Toshitaka Sekine (Hitotsubashi University)
• Ulrich Volz (SOAS, University of London)

The presentations of the conference covered a wide range of topics related to the Japanese economy, including monetary and fiscal policy, exchange rate policy, developments in Japanese banking and finance, the economics of climate change and sustainability, demographic change, womenomics, inequality, labour markets, education, and economic history. Keynote speeches were delivered by Masaaki Shirakawa, former Governor of the Bank of Japan, and Nobuko Nagase of Ochanomizu University.