Fumio Kishida’s three years as prime minister: “New capitalism” and familiar economic policy

The article explores practical and ideological aspects of economic policy of the Japanese government during the three year tenure of Kishida Fumio as Prime Minister of Japan. It analyzes the theoretical concept of the “new form of capitalism,” which F. Kishida made the basis of his political image, and its connection with practical politics, noting a significant gap between the ideological characteristics of this concept and current economic policy. The emphasis on increasing the share of labor as a factor of production in the income structure, on the inclusiveness of the economic system, and on the importance of distribution relations has not been accompanied by major changes in the tax and budget policy, labor relations, and relations between government and business. The role of the driving force of socioeconomic change has in fact been assigned to technological progress and the evolution of social practices. This con firms the nature of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party as a political force based on the conservative consensus and not inclined to radical steps and bold institutional transformations.

 The article describes practical economic policy of Fumio Kishida's cabinets as succeeding that of the second half of the 2010s, in particular, the set of views and measures associated with the name of the then leader of the LDP, Prime Minister Shinzô Abe (“Abenomics”). It is noted that continuity was characteristic of the main aspects of fiscal, monetary, and institutional policies of Kishida cabinets. Also, the effect of the pursued policy turned out to be higher than that of the predecessors. The period of Kishida's premiership witnessed a number of new aspects in the government's economic approaches. At the same time, it is noted that, for the most part, they were nothing more than a change in priorities within the old framework or merely marks of a new ideological and conceptual formulation. Significant changes have not been seen so far in macroeconomic regulation or in the long term priorities of the fiscal strategy of the Japanese government.

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