>The author assumes that more productivity is always good, even though Japan has been suffering a lack of economic demand for most of the last 26 years. Big gai

>The author assumes that more productivity is always good, even though Japan has been suffering a lack of economic demand for most of the last 26 years. Big gains in productivity would only make the lack of demand worse. The Japanese unemployment rate is now at 3.1%, which is very low, even for Japan. In that kind of job market you need big gains in productivity because employers will have trouble filling job openings. There's no reason for the government to artificially stimulate job creation.