Japan Gives Abenomics a Second Chance

Japanese voters are expected to overwhelmingly support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his plan to revive the country's economy, known colloquially as Abenomics, when they head to the polls for nationwide snap elections Dec. 14. While Abenomics is only one part of a broader initiative to improve Japan's international standing, it is, for now at least, the focus of Japan's political establishment and its electorate. The vote could give Abe's Liberal Democratic Party its biggest parliamentary majority in almost two decades, equipping the prime minister with his strongest mandate yet to push through monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and structural reform measures designed to put Japan on the path to sustained economic growth. Even so, a confluence of factors, including political opposition from Japan's key economic decision-making bodies and politically powerful lobbies in addition to the deflationary effects of demographic decline, will limit the reach of Abenomics in 2015.