Slow Japanese Growth Entirely Demographic

Daniel Gros has an interesting article that provides a follow up on my post on the effects of Japan's rapidly ageing population.

Gros shows that more than the entire 1.1 percentage point gap in growth during the last decade between Japan and the United States can be attributed to higher growth in the working age population in the United States. Indeed, GDP relative to the size of the working age population has in fact grown 0.5% per year faster in Japan.

However, given that the 2000s were arguably a lost decade for America too and given the negative effects of its changing population structure, it is still right to call it a lost decade for Japan too.