JFR-rg: A New Macroeconomic Framework for High-Debt, Low-Growth Economies under Financial Repression

TL;DR

This paper introduces the JFR-rg macroeconomic model for high-debt, low-growth economies like Japan, highlighting stability conditions, path dependence, and the effects of financial repression on debt dynamics.

Contribution

It extends existing models by formalizing stability corridors, path dependence, and institutional parameters specific to financial repression in high-debt economies.

Findings

Debt ratios have stabilized despite high levels.

Aggressive rate hikes can worsen debt trajectories.

Deploying repression dividends into investment may stabilize debt.

Abstract

Standard macroeconomic frameworks have correctly identified Japan's government debt - now exceeding 240% of GDP - as carrying substantial fiscal risk. Yet FRED data from 2013 to 2026 present an empirical record inviting a complementary perspective: debt ratios have stabilized, nominal GDP has exceeded 670 trillion yen (SAAR), and unemployment has remained near 2.6-2.7%. This paper formalizes these channels through the Japanese Financial Repression r-g (JFR-rg) model. Building on Blanchard (2019), the framework incorporates a financial repression bias (epsilon_t = pi_t - r^n_t, directly observable from FRED) and a non-linear exchange-rate channel. Three theoretical contributions extend the literature: (i) the Debt Sustainability Corridor, a characterization of stability in (epsilon_t, g^n*_t) space; (ii) the Normalization Ratchet, a path-dependence theorem showing that temporary policy errors generate persistently higher debt trajectories; and (iii) the Captive Financial System Parameter (phi_t), which endogenizes the institutional precondition for JFR-rg stability. Appendices H-L provide supporting empirical evidence (VAR, ARDL, Local Projections) showing the framework's claims are empirically disciplined and falsifiable. The core debt-dynamics propositions are anchored in the consolidated government budget identity (Layer L1), while selected propositions additionally rely on minimal structural assumptions; identification concerns apply only to the empirical Layer L2. Counterfactual simulations illustrate a Normalization Trap: aggressive rate hikes can produce counterproductive debt dynamics. For high-debt, low-growth economies sharing Japan's institutional characteristics, strategically deploying the resulting Repression Dividend into productivity-enhancing investment may represent a regime-contingent equilibrium possibility, conditional on the captive system condition being maintained.