Here at The Sounding Line we have been increasingly covering issues related to the Japanese economy in the news links that we post throughout the day in the left hand column of the website and in our own featured articles. The reason for this focus is that Japan’s demographics (aging and shrinking population) and the Bank of Japan’s monetary policies (more extreme versions of the ECB’s and Fed’s) may provide an early glimpse of what is to come in Europe and the U.S.

For that reason, Mohamed El-Erian’s recent interview with CNBC provides a particularly concerning warning. El-Erian notes with regard to the BOJ that “they haven’t fallen into a trap… where they lose policy credibility”. He further notes “Central banks are becoming less effective in delivering financial outcomes.”