Noriko Hama, Professor at Graduate School of Business, Doshisha University Yukio Noguchi, Advisor to Institute of Financial Studies, Waseda University Friday, November 08, 2013, 15:00 - 16:30 Like many other things in Japan, Abenomics is a rather "fuzzy" concept but prominent Japanese economist Noriko Hama goes one better and says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's set of policies will not set Japan back on the road to economic recovery, describing them as "Nothingnomics." She takes this scathing indictment even further and says Abenomics is "the delusion of a backward-looking mind." This former research director at the Center for Economic and Policy Studies of the Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo turned international media commentator will explain just why she is so unconvinced that Abenomics is the answer to Japan's economic problems. She will be joined by Yukio Noguchi, advisor to the Institute of Financial Studies at Waseda University, who will deliver his own verdict on Abenomics while also discussing the controversial hike in Japan's consumption tax and issues of corporate taxation. This should make for a very interesting and topical debate between two leading economists. Hama was research director at the Center for Economic and Policy Studies in the Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo from 1990 to 1998, and was the institute's first resident economist and chief representative in London. Since her return to Japan she has become widely known as a commentator on the economic environment in both Japanese and international media. She writes regularly on current issues in newspapers and economic journals including The Mainichi Shimbun, the Japan Times, Les Echos and the Financial Times. She is also a frequent commentator for the BBC's World Service Radio and television broadcasts, Japan's NHK television, CNN and other news media. She also serves on a variety of committees advising central government ministries as well as local authorities in Japan. Noguchi has a B.Sc. in engineering from the University of Tokyo, an M.A. in economics from the University of California and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University. Before entering the academic world, he worked for the Ministry of Finance. He served as a professor at Hitotsubashi University and Tokyo University, where he also served as the first director of the Institute for Advanced Economic Engineering.