Masaru Hayami


Masaru Hayami was a Japanese businessman, central banker, the 28th Governor of the Bank of Japan and a Director of the Bank for International Settlements.

Early life

Hayami was born in Hyōgo Prefecture. He graduated from The Tokyo College of Commerce in 1947.

Career

Hayami was Chief Executive Officer of the Nissho Iwai Corporation,
He served as Governor of the Bank of Japan from March 20, 1998 to March 19, 2003. He took over the top BOJ role in 1998, after Governor Yasuo Matsushita and Deputy Governor Toshihiko Fukui resigned in connection with a scandal involving leaks of financially sensitive information.

Controversy

Hayami was a controversial BOJ governor because he insisted Japanese politicians must change the structure of the economy before the BOJ could take further measures to end deflation.
He fiercely resisted politicians' demand to loosen monetary policy, thereby increasing the pressure on politicians to reduce stifling regulation, monopolies, and oligopolies in various economic sectors. This strategy stressed Japan's long-term economic health over the short term problems of deflation and recession. However, there are doubts to whether the implementation of his demanded policies had actually served to increase Japan's long-term economic health in the first place.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Masaru Hayami, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 9 works in 9 publications in 1 language and 20+ library holdings.