Lessons from Japan: M&G's Woolnough looks at what the country can teach the West

The economic situation in Japan over the last two decades can teach Western economies a number of lessons, with the region actually very successful at boosting its own citizens' wealth, M&G's bond veteran Richard Woolnough has said.

Traditionally considered an 'economic failure' due to the crash in the equity market from its peak in the early 1990s - as well as for having decade-long deflation - Woolnough said in reality Japan is not some struggling laggard. Woolnough (pictured) challenged the assumption that the strength of an economy should be measured by the performance of its equity market, suggesting economic output is a much better indicator of its health. "The simple measures of nominal and real GDP are often regurgitated as to why we do not want to end up like Japan. But from an economist's point of view,...